
«t 






The Student's France. 



A 



HISTOET OF FRAICE 



FEOM THE EAELIEST TIMES TO THE ESTABLISHMENT 
OF THE SECOND EMPIRE IN 1852. 




ILLUSTRATED BY ENGKAVINGS ON -WOOD. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPEK & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

PKANKLIN SQUARE. 

18 69. 



JC38 



THE STUDENT'S HISTORIES, UNIFORM WITH THIS WORK. 

THE STUDENTS FKANCE : A History of France, from the 
Eakliebt Times to the Establishment of the Second Empibe in 1852. Illus- 
trated by Engravings on Wood. 12mo, 742 pages, Cloth, $2 00. 

THE STUDENT'S HUME : A History of England froji the Ear- 
liest Times to the REVOLrTioN in 168S. By David Hume. Abridoed. Incor- 
porating the Corrections and Researches of Recent Historians, and continued 
down to the Year 1S51. Illustrated by Engravings on Wood. 12mo, Su5 pages, 
Cloth, $2 00. 

THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF GREECE : A History of Greece 

FROM THE Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest. With Supplementary Chap- 
ters'on the History of Literature and Art. By William Smith, LL.D., Editor of 
the "Classical Dictionary," "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities," &c. 
Revised, with an Appendix by Prof. Geo. W. Gkeene, A.M. Illustrated by 100 
Engravings on Wood. 12mo, T38 pages. Cloth, $2 00. 

BS^ A SMALLER HISTORY OF GREECE : The above Work Abridged for 
Younger Students and Common Schools. Engravings. ICmo, 2T2 pages, 
Cloth, $1 00. 

THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF ROME : A History of Rojie from 
THE Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire. With Chapters on the 
History of Literature and Art. By Henry G. Liddell, D.D., Dean of Christ Church, 
Oxford. Illustrated by numerous Woodcuts. 12mo, 778 pages. Cloth, $2 00. 

B^f- Dr. SMITH'S SMALLER HISTORY OF ROME from the Earliest Times 
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400 pages. Cloth, $1 00. 

THE STUDENT'S GIBBON : The History of the Decline and Fall 

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i? 



PREFACE 



The following "Work has been written by an English 
scholar long resident in France, and intimately acquaint- 
ed with its literature and history. It is intended, like the 
preceding works in the same series, to supply a long ac- 
knowledged want in our literature, namely, a History of 
France, incorporating the researches of recent historians, 
and suitable for the higher forms in Schools and for Stu- 
dents at the Universities, It is unnecessary to point out 
the importance of a knowledge of French history to every 
one who aspires to a liberal education ; but it may not be 
amiss to remind the reader that the true meaning and effect 
of the drama of the Revolution, of which we have not yet 
seen the catastrophe, can be understood only by a far deep- 
er study of the previous condition and history of France 
than most of our countrymen are disposed to undertake. 

"With respect to the execution of the work, it has been 
the aim of the Author to present a perspicuous view of the 
events of French history, from the very commencement of 
the nation down to the present time, avoiding as far as pos- 
sible the dryness of an epitome, and presenting something 
more than a chronicle of mere facts and dates. An attempt 
has been made to draw the portraiture of every important 
historical character, and to include in a rapid and condensed 
narrative all the chief transactions, whether political, mili- 
tary, or ecclesiastical, which have marked the varying for- 
tunes of the nation. Many of the most interesting questions 
connected with the history, government, and institutions of 



vi PREFACE. 

the country are discussed at considerable length in the 
"Notes and Illustrations," which, it is believed, will be 
found of great service to the student. Copious*Teferences 
to the best authorities are likewise given, with the view of 
assisting him in prosecuting farther inquiries. 

The literature of France is particularly rich in works 
upon French history; but it would be impossible, in the 
limits of a Preface, to enumerate all the authorities that 
have been consulted in drawing up the present narrative. 
The writer on whom the chief reliance has been placed is 
Henri Martin, the most valuable of all the French histori- 
ans, whether we regard his scrupulous fidelity and accuracy, 
or the breadth and liberality of his views. Constant use 
has also been made of the works of Velly and Yillaret, Sis- 
mondi, Anquetil, and Lavallee. In the earlier times the 
chief authorities followed have been Guizot, the two Thier- 
rys, and Lehuerou, as well as t^e recent work of Bordier 
and Charton, which has been found extremely useful. 

In conclusion it may be observed, that it has been the 
earnest endeavor of the Author to avoid the capital error 
of writing the History of France from an English point of 
view, a course which can not fail to convey an unjust con- 
ception of the institutions, government, habits, and charac- 
ter of the people. What is needed is an impartial, genial, 
and even sympathetic account of French history. This has 
been the principle upon which the Work has been under- 
taken, but with what success it has been carried out is for 
competent critics to decide. 

January, 1862. 




Uruidic Monument, named I'ierre Branlante, in Brittany. 



CONTENTS. 



B.C. 
50. 



B.C. A.D. 
30-407. 



B.OOK I. 

ANCIENT GAUL. 
Chap. Page 

I. From the Earliest Ages to the Roman Conquest.. 1 

Notes and Illustrations : 

A. Authorities 14 

B. The Celtic Tribes of Gaul ....' 14 

II, Gaul under the Eomans to the great Barbarian 

Invasion 16 



A.D. 
407-511. 



511-752. 



BOOK 11. 

GERMAN GAUL. (a.d. 407-987.) 

III. From the great Barbarian Invasion to the Death 

of Clevis 25 

Notes and Illustrations: 

A. On the Origin of the Franks 35 

B. The Consulship of Clovis 3G 

IV. The Merovingians. From the Death of Clovis to 

the Accession of Pepin le Bref •. 39 

Notes and Illustrations : 

A. On the Mayors of the Palace 5G 

B. Merovingian History 57 



y{il CONTENTS. 

A.D. Chap. Page 
752-843. V. The Carlovingians. From the Accession of Pe- 
pin le Bref to the Treaty of Verdun 59 

Notes and Illustrations : •^ 
Charlemagne Emperor 84 

843-987. VI. The later Carlovingians. From the Treaty of 

Verdun to the Accession of Hugh Capet 85 

Notes and Illustrations: 

A. Authorities 100 

B. On the Decline and Fall of the Carlovin- 

gian Empire 100 



BOOK III. 

FRANCE UNDER THE FEUDAL SYSTEM.— FROM THE ACCES- 
SION OF HUGH CAPET TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES IV. 
(a.d. 987-1328.) 

987-1137. VII. From the Accession of Hugh Capet to the Death 

of Louis VI 103 

Notes and Illustrations : 

The Feudal System 129 

1137-1226. VIII. From the Accession of Louis VII. to the Death 

of Louis VIIL 136 

Notes and Illustrations : 

On the Formation of the French Language... 161 

1226-1828. IX. From "the Accession of (Saint) Louis IX. to that 

of the Line ofValois 163 

Notes and Illustrations : 
Early French Historians 193 



BOOK IV. 

FALL OF FEUDALISM.— FROM THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP 
VL TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES VIH. (a.d. 1328-1498.) 

1328-1380. X. First Period of the Wars with England.— Philip 

VL, John, and Charles V 196 

1380-1461. XL Second Period of the Wars with England. — 

Charles VL and Charles VH 223 

1461-1498. XIL Louis XL and Charles VIII .' 257 

Notes and Illustrations: 
The States-General 279 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK V. 

m 

THE EENAISSANCE AND WAES OF EEL IGION.— FROM THE 
ACCESSION OF LOUIS XII. TO THE DEATH OF HENEY IIL 

(a.d. 1498-1589.) 
A.D. Chap. ^ Page 

1498-1515. XIII. Louis XII 282 

1515-1547. XIV. Francis 1 294 

1547-1559. XV. Henry II 319 

1559-1574. XVL Francis IL— Charles IX 329 

1574-1589. XVIL Henry IIL 34G 

Notes and Illustrations: 
Authorities 362 



BOOK VI. 

THE ABSOLUTE MONAECHY.— FEOM THE ACCESSION OF 

HENEY IV. TO THE EEVOLUTION. 

(a.d. 1589-1789.) 

1589-1610. XVIII. The House of Bourbon.— Henry IV 364 

Notes and Illustrations: 

Authorities for the Eeign of Henry IV 384 

1610-1643. XIX. Louis XIII 385 

Notes and Illustrations : 
The Parliaments 406 

1 643-1661. XX. Eeign of Louis XIV.— I. From his Accession to 

the Death of Cardinal Mazarin 410 

1661-1697. XXI. Eeign of Louis XIV. continued. — II. From the 
Death of Cardinal Mazarin to the Peace of 
Eyswick 426 

1697-1715. XXIL Eeign of Louis XIV. concluded.— III. From the 

Peace of Eyswick to the Death of Louis 452 

Notes and Illustrations: 
Authorities foi- the Eeign of Louis XIV 472 

1715-1748. XXIIL Eeign of Louis XV.— L From the Eegency of 

the Duke of Orleans to the Peace of Aix-la- 4 
Chapelle 473 

1748-1774. XXIV. Eeign of Louis XV. concluded. —II. From the 

Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle to the Death of Louis 495 
Notes and Illustrations : 
Authoj-ities for the Eeign of Louis XV 511 



X CONTENTS. 

A.D. CuAP. Page 

1774-1789. XXV. Eeign of Louis XVI. —I. From his Accession 

to the Meeting of the States-General.... 512 

Notes and Illustrations : 
On the Public Revenue, Taxation, and Ti- 
nancial Administration 524 



BOOK VII. 

REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE.— FROM THE MEETING OF THE 

STATES-GENERAL TO THE ACCESSION OF NAPOLEON III. 

(A.D. 1789-1852.) 

1789-1793. XXVI. From the Meeting of the States-General to the 

Death of Louis XVI 528 

1793-1799. XXVIL The Republic 563 

1799-1804. XXVIIL The Consulate 594 

1804-1810. XXIX. The Empire. —I. From its Commencement to 
the Marriage of Napoleon with Maria Louisa 
of Austria 611 

1810-1814. XXX. The Empire continued.— il. From the Marriage 
of Napoleon with Maria Louisa to his Abdi- 
cation 629 

1814-1830. XXXI. The Restoration.— Reigns of Louis XVIII. and 

Charles X 650 

1830-1848. XXXn. Reign of Louis Philippe 680 

1848-1852. XXXIII. The second Republic and second Empire 698 

Notes and Illustrations : 

Authorities for the Period of the Revolution 
down to the Present Time 706 

Index 707 



GENEALOGICAL TABLES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



GENEALOGICAL TABLES. 



Page 

Of the Merovingian Dynasty 38 

Of the Carlovingians 58 

Of the Capetian Dynasty 102 

Of the House of Valois of France 195 

Of the second Ducal House of Burgundy 195 

Of the House of Valois-Orleans 281 

Of the Ducal Houses of Lorraine and Guise 318 

Of the House of Bourbon 363 

Of Claimants to the Spanish Succession 454 

Of the Bonaparte Family 610 

Of the Bourbon-Orleans Family 679 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Dr uidic Monument, named Pierre 

Branlante, in Brittany vii 

Ruins of Temple of Janus, Autun xii 
Druidic Monument, called Mai- 
son des Fees, near Saumur.... 1 
Druidic Dolmen, named Pierre 

Levee, near Poitiers 13 

Temple of Pluto, Autun 16 

Euins of the Palace of Julian 

(Palais des Thermes) at Paris 25 
Chair or Throne of Dagobert .... 39 

Sceptre of Dagobert 57 

Presentation of a Bible to Charles 

the Bald 59 

Map of the Empire of Charle- 
magne 69 

Chapel of St. John, Poitiers ; an 

early Christian Church 85 

Castle of Falaise, in Normandy ; 
birthplace of William' the Con- 
queror 103 

Chateau Gaillard, on the Seine.. 136 

Castle of Angers 163 

Arrest of Charles the Bad, of Na- 
varre 196 

Chateau de Chinon; place of 
meeting between Charles VII. 

and the Maid of Orleans 223 

Isabella of Bavaria, wife of 

Charles VI 228 

Philip the Good, Duke of Bur- 



Page 
gundy, in the Robes of the 

Golden Fleece Order 242 

Jeanne Dare, the Maid of Or- 
leans 250 

Louis XI ■ 257 

Le Petit Chatelet at Paris 282 

Francis 1 294 

Battle of Marignano 296 

Fort de la Tournelle, Paris 319 

The three Brothers Coligny 328 

Execution at the Castle of Am- 

boise, 1560 329 

Medal of Pope Gregory XIII. 
commemorating the Massacre 

of St. Bartholomew 343 

Catharine de' Medici 345 

Henry III 346 

Chateau of Pau before 1830 ; 

birthplace of Henry IV. 364 

Castle of Arques 3GG 

Medal of the Duke of Sully 376 

Medal of Henry VI. and of Mary 

de' Medici 379 

Cardinal Richelieu 385 

Meeting of the States-General in 
the Salle Bourbon at Paris, 

Oct., 1614 387 

Sitting of Parliament, declaring 
the Regency of Anne of Aus- 
tria, May 18, 1643 409 

Barricades at the Porte St. An- 



x,u 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 
toine, Aug. 27, 1648, the com- 
mencement of the Civil War of 
the Fronde 410 

Isle of Pheasants, in the Eiver 
Bidassoa, the boundary of 
France and Spain 426 

Madame de Maintenon 440 

St. Germains, residence of James 
IL of England 447 

Louis XIV., the Great 452 

The Bastile 473 

Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy 
before the Revolution 495 

Medal struck to commemorate 
the Alliance of France and the 
United States against England 512 

Hotel de Ville and Place de Greve 
at Paris, Scene of Execution 527 

Medal commemorative of the 
Night of Aug. 4, 1789 628 

The Lantern at the Corner of 
the Place de Greve 533 

-Reverse of Medal coramemora- 



Eage 
tive of the Night of Aug. 4, 

1789 534 

Patriotic Gifts. Sept. 7, 1789.. 585 

The Temple 552 

Massacres at the Abbaye, Sept. 

2, 1792 555 

Execution of Louis XVI 561 

Installation of the Directorv, 

Nov. 4, 1795 .".. 563 

House in which Charlotte Cor- 

day was born 566 

Execution of the Duke of En- 

ghien 594 

Medal of the three Consuls 595 

Medal of Napoleon, king of Italy 608 
Medal of Napoleon, struck in an- 
ticipation of his Conquest of 

England 611 

Tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena 629 

Medal of Louis XVIII 650 

Reverse of Medal of Louis XVIII. 65 1 
Interior of the Chamber of Dep- 
uties 680 




Euins of Temple of Janus, Autun. 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. 




Cniidic Monument, called Maison dcs Fees, near Saumiir. 



BOOK I. 
ANCIENT GAUL. 



CHAPTER I. 



FROM THE EAllLIEST AGES TO THE KOMAN CONQUEST, B.C. liG. 

§ 1. Gaul colonized by the Celts; their Settlements in the British Isles. § 2. 
The Iberi, Aquitani, or Basqiies. § 3. The Kymri; theBelgte. § 4. The 
Phoenicians ; the Greeks ; Greek Towns on tlie Mediterranean Coast. § 5. 
Emigrations of the Gauls into Italy and Spain ; they attack and capture 
Rome ; Conquest of Gallia Cisalpini by the Romans ; Roman Interference 
in Gaul ; the Province of Gallia Narbonensis. § G. Gaul invaded by the 
Teutonic Tribes. § 7. Cffisar's Campaigns in Gaul; Conquest of the Bel- 
gaj, the Armoricans, the Aquitanians ; general Revolt under Vercingeto- 
rix. § 8. Siege of Alesia ; Reduction of the whole of Gaul. § 9. Social 
State of Gaul; the Druids. § 10. Human Sacrifices; Druidical Monu- 
ments. 

§ 1. Tradition, rather than history, informs us that the West 
was -originally peopled from the East. The country now called 
France was colonized, at a period lost in the obscurity of ages, by 
the Gauls, or Galls, a race of fierce warriors of Celtic descent, de- 
rived apparently from Central Asia. The various migrations of 

A 



2 GAUL COLONIZED BY THE CELTS. Chap. I. 

the Celts Lave furnished food for much ingenious, but, for the 
most part, fruitless speculation. It is noAv, however, received as 
tolerably certain, that of this vast family there were two distinct 
branches, the Gaels or Gauls, and the Cimri or Kymri ; and that 
both Gauls and Kymri poured themselves forth at different epochs 
and by different routes upon Europe.* The Gauls were the first 
to emigrate. Journeying on steadily, in countless masses, toward 
the setting sun, they reached the extreme western limits of the 
European continent ; and the wide territory of which they took 
possession, extending from the Atlantic to the Rhine, the Alps, the 
Mediterranean, and the Pyrenees, acquired from them the name 
of Galltachd, or Gaul, 

AVith a thirst of discovery still unsated, the Gauls passed over 
from Armorica, or Brittany; to the opposite shores, and planted 
numerous and flourishing colonies in England, Scotland, and Ire- 
land. The identity of race between the Celts of Gaul and the 
earliest inhabitants of Britain rests on many sufficient considera- 
tions, but especially on the conclusive testimony of language. Five 
dialects of their common tongue are still in existence, of which 
three belong to the Gaelic branch — the Gaelic or Scotch, the Erse 
or Irish, and the Manx of the Isle of Man ; and two to the 
Kymric — the Breton, spoken in the remoter districts of Lower 
Brittany, and the Welsh. 

§ 2. Although the Celts of Gaul were believed by early writers 
to be the aboriginal possessors of the soil,! it would appear that 
the country south of the Garonne was inhabited, before their ar- 
rival, by the Iberi, a group of tribes who had come probably by 
way of Africa and Spain. The Iberi are known to us under va- 
rious names. They are doubtless identical with the Aquitani 
of Strabo and Cassar; a race differing very widely, Ave are told, 
from the Celts in person, language, and manners. AVe meet with 
them again under the denomination of Euskes or Auskes, which 
seems to have been that of their predominant tribe; and the 
Basques of the present day may reasonably be regarded as their 
true descendants — that singular and isolated people who inhabit 
the soutliAvestern corner of PVance and a considerable tract in the 
no^th of Spain, speaking a language that bears little or no affinity 
to any other European tongue, and retaining in their character, 
manners, and temperament many curious traces of their ancient 
greatness. I 

* See Ame'dee Thierry, Hist, des Gaulois ; Henri Martin, Hist, de France, 
vol. i., 3, 12. 

t Ammianns Marcellinus, xv., 9. The Druids, it seems, taught that they 
were avToxOovtg. 

X The Basques (Vascones in Latin), on settling north of the Pyrenees, 



Chap. I. KYMRI—BELG^— PHOENICIANS. 3 

§ 3. The Kymri, whom we have mentioned as the second great 
section of the Celtic family, invaded Western Europe in their 
turn, toward the middle of the seventh century before the Chris- 
tian era.* Driven forth from their original settlements by an 
overwhelming irruption of the Scythians, the Kymri, led, accord- 
ing to tradition, by their renowned chieftain, Hu Cadarn, or Hugh 
the Powerful, crossed the Lower Rhine, and entered Gaul on its 
northeastern border. After a fierce and prolonged contest with 
their brethren of the earlier migration, the invaders acquired per- 
manent possession of a very extensive territory north of the 
Loire, including the peninsula of Armorica. Some of their tribes 
likewise made a successful expedition into Britain, and founded 
numerous settlements in the southern parts of the island, driving 
back the Gallic population into the hilly districts of the north 
and the west. 

The Belgce, who are characterized by Caesar as at once the most 
valiant and the least civilized of the tribes settled in Gaul, were 
in all probability an offshoot of the Kymri, who, instead of join- 
ing their countrymen in their invasion of Gaul, remained on the 
farther side of the Ehine, and there, through familiar association 
with the Germans, contracted a resemblance to them in manners 
and charactei'. Two centuries or more after the great Kymric 
immigration, the Belg^ passed the Rhine, and made themselves 
masters of northern Gaul, which received from them the name of 
Belgica. Being derived from the same stock, the Belga3 easily 
assimilated in the course of years with the earlier settlers, while 
they preserved at the same time many indications of their long 
sojourn among the Germans. Thus becoming inseparably blended 
with the Kymri, and introducing among them a certain admixture 
of Teutonic blood, the Belgse formed eventually a race superior 
in manly energy and warlike prowess to any other in Gaul.| 

§ 4. The Phoenicians, those enterprising navigators of whom 
history speaks so scantily and indistinctly, established colonies 
along the southeastern shores at a very early period ; and pene- 
trating into the intei-ioi', instructed the barbarian Celts in the arts 
of industry and commerce. The mines of the Pyrenees and the 
Cevennes are supposed to have been first opened and worked by 
the Phoenicians ; and there is a tradition that a city named Alesia, 
built by them among the mountains of the Cote d'Or, became the 
meti'opolis (f. e., the mother or parent city) of all Gaul.J In pi'o- 

gave their name to the country, which was called ft-om them Vasconia, Gas- 
cogne, or Gascony. 

* It seems probable that the Cimmerii mentioned by Herodotus are the 
same as the Kymri. Herodot., i., 15 ; iv., 11. 

t See Notes and Illustrations (A). J Diodor. Sic, iv., 19. 



4 WARS WITH THE ROMANS. Chap. I. 

cess of time, however, the Phoenicians were eclipsed and supplant- 
ed by the more refined and scientific Greeks; and their opulent 
settlements on the Mediterranean sea-board passed into the hands 
of their rivals. It was about the year 600 B.C. that some Greek 
Refugees from Phoccea, in Asia Minor, laid the foundation of the 
city of Marseilles. In like manner, Antipolis (Antibes), iSicsa 
(JS'ice), Agatha (Agde), and other towns on the southern coast, 
owed either their origin or their restoration to colonists from 
Greece. It does not appear, however, that the Greeks ever ob- 
tained or sought much influence in Gaul beyond the immediate 
neighborhood of their own cities. 

§ 5. After the irruption of the Kymri, the teeming tribes of 
central Gaul, who were^ thus dispossessed of large territories, emi- 
grated repeatedly into the neighboring countries. Twice they 
crossed the Alps, and overran the plains of Lombardy, extending 
their conquests as far as Verona and Padua eastward, and south- 
ward to the confines of Etruria. On another occasion they 
swarmed across the Pyrenees into Spain, where, becoming inter- 
mixed with the indigenous population, they took the name of 
Celtiberi,* and signalized themselves by their stubborn resistance 
to the arms of Rome. At length, about 390 B.C., a Gaulish tribe 
called the Senones burst forth from the passes of the Apennines, 
and pushed on boldly till within a few miles of Rome itself. They 
encountered the ai'my of the great Republic on the Allia ; and 
the battle which ensued terminated in one of the most' calamitous 
defeats that ever befell the Roman arms. The city was captured, 
sacked, and burnt by the barbai'ian victors ; and it Avas only upon 
payment of a costly ransom that they were at length induced to 
retire from the smoking ruins. 

The Gauls proceeded to establish themselves permanently on 
the Italian side of the Alps, and occupied the greater part of 
modern Piedmont and Lombardy. The terror of their name be- 
came widespread throughout Italy; and it was not till near a 
century had elapsed that the Romans, now rapidly extending their 
dominion northward, found an opportunity of Avashing away the 
disgrace of the Allia. The great victory of the Consul Decius, 
B.C. 295, followed by those of L. iEmilius and Atilius, B.C. 284, 
and that of Claudius Marcellus, B.C. 223, led at no distant date to 
the conquest by the Romans of the entire territory possessed by 
their Transalpine rivals. The struggle, however, was stern and 
protracted ; it cost them no less than eleven campaigns and eleven 
pitched battles to reduce these formidable tribes to subjection. At 

* .... pvofugique a gente vetusta 

Gallorum Celtse miscentes nomen Iberis. 

Lucan, P/iarsaL, iv., 9. 



B.C. 154-118. ROMAN INTERFERENCE. 5 

length, about 191 B.C., after a conflict in which the whole Gaulish 
population was either forcibly expelled or exterminated, the coun- 
try was constituted a province of the Roman empire, under the 
title of Gallia Cisalpina ; and a notification was made to the in- 
habitants of Gaul beyond the Alps, that these mountains were 
henceforth to form a perpetual barrier between the barbarians and 
Italy. 

About half a century after the expulsion of the Gauls from 
Italy, the Romans, pursuing their unscrupulous career of self- 
aggrandizement, found means to obtain for the first time a foot- 
ing in Gaul properly so called. The Greek colony of Massilia, or 
Marseilles, then one' of the most flourishing commercial marts of 
Europe, was constantly at war with the surrounding Gallic tribes ; 
the people of Marseilles striving to increase their territory and 
establish their power farther inland, the Gauls to confine them 
strictly to their trading towns on the sea-coast. The Massilians, 
worsted in several bloody engagements, and beginning to fear for 
their maritime supremacy, appealed for assistance to the Romans. 
A powerful army was dispatched without delay under the Consul 
Opimius (b.c. 154); and the barbarian tribes, speedily yielding to 
the superior discipline and skill of the legions, became tributary 
subjects to Marseilles. A second expedition, some years later, re- 
sulted in the total defeat of the Salyes on the Lower Rhone, whose 
capital was Arelate, or Aries. On this occasion the conquerors, 
instead of retiring into Italy, took possession, in the name of the 
Republic, of the entire district between the Rhone and the Du- 
rance, and founded there a city to which they gave the name of 
Aqua3 Sextifc, in honor of their Proconsul Sextius (e.g. 123). 
This earliest of the Roman settlements in Gaul is now Aix, in 
Provence. 

So rapid and decisive were the successes of the Romans within 
the next few years, that in B.C. 121 their possessions in Gaul 
were erected into a province, the limits of which coincided very 
neai'ly with those of modern Dauphine and Provence. As the 
tide of victory rolled farther westward, the famous colony of Nar- 
bo Marti us, or Narbonne, was founded in 118 B.C., and became the 
metropolis of the Roman territories in Southern Gaul. From 
this city the province acquired the name of Gallia Narbonensis. 
It embraced the greater part of Languedoc and Roussillon, in ad- 
dition to the former conquests, and reached in fact from the Ga- 
ronne and the Pyrenees to the Alps and the borders of Italy. The 
new province was also known as Gallia Braccata — from the 
breeches or trews worn by the natives — in contradistinction to 
the Cisalpine Gaul, Avhich was called Gallia Togata — its inhabi- 
tants having adopted the di-ess iind nsiiges of Rome. 



6 INVASION BY TEUTONIC TRIBES. Chap. I, 

§ 6. Time went on, and the course of events at length present- 
ed to the Romans a fair and tempting prospect of enlarging the 
bounds of their Transalpine territories, and pushing their aggres- 
sions into the very heart of Gaul. The circumstances were as 
follows. Among the most powerful of the Gallic tribes was that 
of the ^dui, inhabiting the district afterward known as Burgun- 
dy, between the Loire and the Saone. The -ZEdui were on terms 
of strict alliance with the Romans of Gallia Narbonensis ; and on 
the strength of this advantage they assumed a tone of pre-emi- 
nence over the neighboi'ing states, whom they irritated by various 
acts of oppression, especially by levying excessive tolls on the 
navigation of the Saone. The Sequani, Avho occupied Upper 
Alsace, determined to resist these exactions ; and in order to 
counterbalance the protection of the Romans, they in an evil hour 
applied for help to the Teutonic tribes beyond the Rhine. These 
Teutons now began to be distinguished by the name of Germans, 
from a Avord signifying warrior or chieftain. They readily re- 
sponded to the appeal of the Sequani ; and their leader Ariovistus 
forthwith conducted a vast host of his fierce countrymen to co- 
operate with them against the ^dui. A great battle was fought, 
and the ^■Edui were completely overthrown ; but Ariovistus now 
demanded of the Sequani, in peremptory terms, the immediate ces- 
sion of the third part of their territory to the Germans; the Se- 
quani refused, and coalesced with the JKdui to resist this alarm- 
ing encroachment. Ariovistus mai-ched against the combined 
tribes, completely surprised them, and gained a decisive victory, 
which left the whole of their territories at his mercy. This took 
place in the year GO B.C. 

The Germans quickly overran the east of Gaul, and established 
their dominion from the Jura and the Saone vip to the very frontier 
of the Roman province. They garrisoned all the fortified towns, 
and occupied the country with an imposing force of 200,000 war- 
riors. It now became evident that Gaul must eventually cease 
to be independent ; and the great issue remained to be decided, 
whether it should become the prey of the ferocious Teutons, or be 
merged in the all-absorbing sovereignty of Rome. 

§ 7. Caius Julius Cassar was at this time (b.c 58) proconsul of 
the provinces of Gallia Narbonensis and Gallia Cisalpina. This 
celebrated man had carefully M'atched the recent march of events; 
he clearly foresaw the approaching crisis ; and was prepared, by a 
dexterous combination of generalship, valor, and political skill, to 
turn it to the fullest advantage. Having vanquished the Hel- 
vetii, a tribe who threatened an invasion of the Roman border, 
Caesar immediately afterward turned his arms against the insolent 
Germans, Avho continued their incursions throughout Eastern 



B.C. 58-50. CESAR'S CAMPAIGNS. 7 

Gaul. He sent a message to Ariovistus, signifying that, if he de- 
sired to live on terms of amity with Rome, he must confine him- 
self strictly to the right bank of the Ehine. 1'he barbarian chief 
returned a haughty and menacing reply, insisting that the Ger- 
mans held their province in Gaul by the same right by which 
Rome had acquired hers, and challenging Ctesar to meet him in 
the field. After a diflScult march through the Vosges mountains, 
the Roman commander brought the Germans to a general action 
in the plains of Alsace, within two marches of the Rhine. For 
some time the fate of the day hung doubtfully in the balance ; but 
in the end 50,000 German corpses strewed the field, while the 
scanty remnant hurried in despaii'ing confusion across the Rhine, 
and gained the shelter of the forests. Ariovistus survived the 
battle, but died shortly afterward, either of his wounds, or from 
shame and rage at his misfortune. 

This decisive -overthrow of German barbarism left the whole 
of Gaul open to the ambitious projects of the conqueror. Early 
in the following spring (b.c. 57) Caesar commenced that memora- 
ble series of campaigns of which he has left us so graphic a nai-- 
rative, and which terminated in the complete subjugation of the 
country. It is impossible, within the limits of the present work, 
to give a detailed account of the great Gallic War, which, how- 
ever, will repay in many respects the careful attention of the stu- 
dent. A rapid summary of its principal events is all that can be 
here attempted. 

The campaign of 57 b.c. was fought in the north of Gaul, 
against a formidable confederacy headed, by the Belga^. The al- 
lied tribes, consisting of the Bellovaci (Beauvais), Suessiones (Sois- 
sons), Atrebates (Arras), Ambiani (Amiens), Nervii (Hainault), 
and many others, numbered upward of 300,000 men. One of the 
most powerful clans, however, the Remi, refused to join the league, 
and offered their friendship and services to the Roman command- 
er. This defection gave him an immense advantage, and render- 
ed the task of conquest comparatively easy. Ccesar now detached 
Divitiacus, at the head of the -Sildui, to make a diversion toward 
the country of the Bellovaci, and marched in person against the 
main force of the confederates, Avho were besieging Bibrax, a town 
belonging to the Remi. On the approach of the Roman army 
the siege was raised ; and a well-disputed engagement was fought 
on the banks of the River Aisne, in which the Gauls were re- 
pulsed with heavy loss. Ere long the news arrived that Diviti- 
acus and the ^dui had invaded the Bellovaci, and were ravaging 
their country; whereupon that tribe immediately announced their 
resolution to quit the allied army and return to the defense of 
their homes. This was followed by a general retreat of the Bel- 



8 CESAR'S CAMPAIGNS. Chap. I. 

gfB, which was, in ftict, equivalent to a breaking up of the confed- 
eracy. The retrograde march of such a prodigious host became 
confused and undisciplined ; Ciesar launched his cavalry against 
them, and hewed down the fugitives in crowds during the space 
of a whole day. The Suessiones submitted unconditionally, and 
were treated with clemency; the Bellovaci, at the intercession of 
Divitiacus, and as a special favor to the ^dui, Avere admitted to 
like terms of pacification. The Nervii, an important ti'ibe farther 
to the north, on the River Sambre, made a desperate resistance 
to the invader. Supported by the Atrebates and Veromandui, 
they assaulted the Roman intrenchments, and the genius and ener- 
gy of Cffisar were taxed to the utmost in maintaining his ground. 
The Nervii were at length overlapped and surrounded, but, refus- 
ing to yield, were literally slaughtered where they stood ; the 
whole nation may be said to have been exterminated on that one 
day. The campaign was brought to a close by the submission of 
various tribes in Brittany and Normandy, who laid down their 
arms on hearing of the discomfiture of the Belgic league, and 
threw themselves on the mercy of the victors. Gaul being thus 
pacified, to use the half-ironical expression of the triumphant gen- 
eral, the Romans took up winter-quarters among the Carnutes, 
Andes, and Turones — the modern districts of Chartres, Anjou, 
and Touraine. 

CfEsar employed the next year (B.C. 56) chiefly in the reduction 
of Armorica, or Brittany, where the brunt of the Avar was borne 
by the Veneti, a tribe of considerable strength on the sea-coast. 
The entire Gaulish fleet was destroyed in the estuary of the Loire. 
Here the flower of the Armorican population perished, for they 
had ventured all upon the issue of this one naval combat. The 
survivors were so few and feeble that they had no choice but to 
surrender themselves absolutely to the will of the conqueror. 
Coesar acted on this occasion Avith stern rigor ; he put to death 
all the remaining senators of the Veneti, and sold the rest of the 
people into slavery. During the same campaign one of Caesar's 
lieutenants, P. Crassus, operated with signal success south of the 
Garonne, and received the submission of almost all the Aquita- 
nian tribes. 

While Cassar Avas absent on his first expedition to Britain, B.C. 
55, a general insurrection Avas organized in Gaul by Ambiorix, 
chief of the Eburones, a Belgic tribe on the banks of the Mouse. 
The Roman general Sabinus Avas murdered in cold blood ; his 
troops Avere remorselessly put to the SAvoi'd. Another legion, 
commanded by Q. Cicero, was attacked in its camp by an ovei'- 
Avhelming force, and after a gallant defense Avas reduced to the 
last extremity. Caesar, on receiving the intelligence, marched 



B.C. 58-50. CESAR'S CAMPAIGNS. 9 

hastily with what troops he could collect to the relief of his lieu- 
tenant. AVith no more than 7000 men he cut his way impetu- 
ously through the besieging army of more than 60,000, and pene- 
trated to the camp of Cicero, who must otherwise have surren- 
dered at discretion, not one in ten of his soldiers remaining un- 
wounded. 

In the spring of 53 B.C. the Romans concentrated their whole 
force against the Eburones, who had taken the most prominent 
part in the late insurrection. That unfortunate tribe was utterly 
destroyed ; and, by a refinement of cruelty, Caesar employed some 
Gaulish auxiliaries who had lately joined his army in the task of 
hunting down their hapless countrymen. The intrepid Ambiorix, 
seeing the cause of liberty lost for the present, thrcAV himself into 
the pathless recesses of the Ardennes, and, though tracked with 
much apparent zeal by the Gaulish scouts, made good his escape, 
no doubt with the connivance of his pursuers. 

A year later (b.c. 52) measures were concocted, with the ut- 
most secrecy and mystery, for a simultaneous rising throughout 
the country against the Roman power/ A young man of noble 
birth among the Arverni, possessed of pre-eminent influence, both 
personal and hereditary, with his countrymen, undertook the chief 
direction of this movement. His name, as given by Ciesar in a 
Latinized form, Avas Vercingetorix.* He summoned the Gauls 
to meet him at Gergovia, the capital of the Arverni (about four 
miles south of Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne), and soon found 
himself surrounded by an immense army, of which he was chosen 
generalissimo by acclamation. Cgesar, who was in Italy at the 
time of this outbreak, returned to Gaul with a rapidity beyond 
example, and, surmounting all the obstacles of a rigorous winter, 
descended suddenly on the dismayed Arverni, and carried desola- 
tion and destruction through their country. The siege of Avari- 
cum (Bourges), which followed, was one of the most remarkable 
operations of the war. In spite of the utmost efforts of Vercin- 
getorix, this flourishing city was taken by assault in twenty-six 
days, and nearly its whole population of forty thousand fell by a 
fearful and indiscriminate carnage. Vercingetorix now retired 
upon Gergo\ia, which occupied a commanding site twelve hund- 
red feet above the surrounding plain. It was here that the Ro- 
man general, for the first time during his campaigns in Gaul, ex- 
perienced a decided reverse ; his troops were driven in confusion 
down the hill of Gergovia, and he was compelled to raise the 
siege, and retreat northward, to join his second in command, La- 
bienus, in the country of the Senones. Vercingetorix marched 
rapidly in pursuit, and came up with Ctesar a few mile? north of 

.* Signifying, in the Celtic langnnge. " tlie chief of a hundred cli'ofs '' 
A 2 



10 C^ESAK'S CAMPAIGNS. Chav. I. 

Divio, or Dijon, where was fought one of the most obstinate and 
bloody battles of the war. Vercingetorix Avas beaten, and threw 
himself into the strongly-fortified town of Alesia, capital of the 
Mandubii,* which lay some distance in his rear. 

§ 8. The siege of Alesia is the crowning event of the Gallic 
war. Such was the extraordinary strength of this position, that 
CjEsar deemed it unassailable by storm, and resolved to reduce it 
by blockade. To effect this, he executed works of circumvalla- 
tion at a prodigious cost of labor and on a gigantic -scale. Ver- 
cingetorix now dismissed his whole force of cavalry, with orders 
to urge an immediate rising of the entire Gaulish nation for the 
relief of their beleaguered army, the last hope of their country's 
independence. The appeal produced an enthusiastic response ; 
each tribe eagerly furnished its allotted contingent of warriors, 
and the entire levy numbered near two liundi-ed and fifty thou- 
sand horse and foot. But, in spite of all exertions, the heroic de- 
fenders of Alesia were reduced to the last extremity before the 
army of relief arrived. Three desperate attacks were made in 
conjunction by Vercingetorix and Vergasillaunus, the commander 
of the relieving army ; all entirely failed. Vergasillaunus was 
taken prisoner ; twenty-four standards were captured ; the mass 
of the Gaulish army was scattered in flight, never to be reunited ; 
and Vercingetorix, with the small garrison of Alesia, saw the ne- 
cessity of yielding to the stern fate of war, which had decreed 
their country's fall. On the next day this noble-hearted patriot, 
glittering in his brightest armor, and mounted on a richly-capari- 
soned charger, presented himself before Csesar in front of his camp, 
cast down his arms at the proconsul's feet, and with stoical calm- 
ness submitted to be bound by the lictors. He was kept in close 
confinement for several years, and at length, after having gi-aced 
the triumph of the Koman dictator by walking at his chariot- 
wheel, was executed in his dungeon. 

Although the freedom of Gaul may be said to have been crush- 
ed and extinguished under the walls of Alesia, some time elapsed 
before the country was reduced to the tranquillity of prostrate 
subjection. Plutarch tells us that in the course of this exti-aor- 
dinary contest, which lasted eight years, Cassar took by force more 
than eight hundred towns, subdued three hundred distinct tribes 
or states, and conquered three millions of fighting men, of whom 
one million perished on the field of battle, and another million 
were sold into slavery. 

Cassar employed the whole of the year 50 B.C. in endeavoring 
to soothe the people by promises of mild and beneficent treatment, 
and thus to reconcile them to the Koman domination. As far as 
* Alesia is at Alise, in the department of the Cote d'Or. 



Chap. I. SOCIAL STATE. H 

possible the natives were permitted to" retain the privileges of 
local government. The best of the Gaulish soldiers Avere encour- 
aged to enroll themselves under the banners of the republic, and 
a complete corps was formed of these Transalpine volunteers, 
which became celebrated as the legion of the " Alauda," from the 
fijTure of a lark which was borne on the front of the helmet. 
These troops were admitted to the Jus Latinum, and placed in 
all essential respects on a par with Roman citizens. 

The Eoman army was also largely recruited from among the 
Gauls of Belgium and Aquitania; and in the civil wars which 
soon followed the Gaulish cavalry became specially distinguished 
for its brilliant courage, and contributed not a little to the eleva- 
tion of CcEsar as supreme dictator. 

The lately conquered territories were now erected into an addi- 
tional province of the Eoman empire, and received the name of 
Gallia Comata from the long flowing hair worn by the inhabit- 
ants, being thus distinguished from the ancient province of Gallia 
Narbonensis. 

§ 9. A few words n;iay here be added as to the constitution of 
society among the primitive inhabitants of Gaul ; as to their na- 
tional character, manners, and religion. The general type of 
government among the Celts of Gaul was that of aristocracy or 
oligarchy, of which the most prominent feature was the extraor- 
dinary power of the Druids. CiBsar states that in his time the 
whole political power was divided between the Druids and the 
knights or nobles (equites). The mass of the common people 
were scarcely better than serfs or slaves. Unable to bear up 
against debt, excessive taxation, and the tyranny of rank and 
Avealth, they had given themselves over altogether into the hands 
of the superior castes. They could not, however, be bought and 
sold, and ill treatment of them was punishable by fine. Their 
condition was also alleviated by the system of patronage, or client- 
ship ; each noble was surrounded by a number of retainers, who 
Avere entitled to his special protection, and were bound in return 
to support his interests and defend his person with absolute de- 
votion. These clients were maintained at the patron's cost, and 
incurred an equal share in all his dangers. If he fell in battle, 
or came to any violent end, it was their duty to sacrifice them- 
selves upon his tomb ; and no instance had occurred within the 
memory of man of their attempting to evade this obligation. 

The most remarkable of the Celtic institutions was that of the 
Druidical priesthood. The Druids Avere of three orders — the in- 
ferior priests — the bards, Avho were supposed to be divinely in- 
spired, and exercised, in consequence, immense influence over the 
minds and passions of the people — and the Druids properly so 



12 HUMAN SACRIFICES. Chai-. i. 

called, who were the highest of all. These latter led a contem- 
plative life in the seclusion of the forests, and devoted themselves 
to theological and metaphysical study. They were exempt from 
military service, from the payment of taxes, and from all other 
public burdens. They appear to have taught the immortality of 
the soul, or rather the transmigration of souls, and a future state 
of rewards and punishments. " They lay special stress," says 
Cfesar, " upon the doctrine that souls do not perish, but pass after 
death into other bodies ; considering this as a most powerful 
stimulus to bravery and courage, since it tends to remove alto- 
gether the fear of death." A solemn convocation of the Druids 
was held every year at a consecrated spot in the country of the 
Carnutes, which was reputed to be the centre of all Gaul. In^ 
quiry was here instituted, and judgment pronounced, in causes of 
all kinds ; all parties were bound to submit implicitly to the decis- 
ions of this high tribunal ; if any one proved refractory, the Dru- 
ids had the power to interdict him from the sacrifices, a punish- 
ment of extreme severity, as it excluded the offender from socie- 
ty, and incapacitated him for any public function. 

Nor was the ascendency of the Druids simply the effect of relig- 
ious superstition. For they were much more than priests ; they 
were philosopherSj physicians, professors of the arts and sciences, 
interpreters of the laws, ministers of justice, poets, genealogists, 
historians. Tliey sang the praises of departed heroes, and by the 
memory of their deeds inflamed the ambition and martial ardor 
of the living. A hierarchy invested with such paramount and 
undisputed authority over all ranks and classes is probably with- 
out a parallel in history. 

§ 10. Many of the religious rites among the Gauls were cruel 
and bloody. Human sacrifices were of frequent occurrence. It 
was believed that the life of man can not be purchased but by 
that of his fellow-man ; that the gods can not be propitiated but 
at this costly price. Accordingly, those who Avere attacked by 
dangerous sickness, and those who Avere about to expose them- 
selves to the Jiazards of war, prociu'ed, through the ministry of 
the Druids, the immolation of human victims on their behalf. 
Public sacrifices of the same kind were sometimes held. A co- 
lossal human figure was made of wicker-work, and its huge limbs 
filled with the bodies of living men, generally condemned crimi- 
nals, or captives taken in Avar. The image Avas then set on fire, 
and the Avretched sufferers perished in the flames. 

These human sacrifices Avere doubtless much encouraged by the 
prevalent contempt of deatli arising from the belief in the trans- 
migration and perpetual existence of the soul. The Gauls Re- 
garded the future life as, in the most literal sense, a continuation 



Chap. I. 



DEUIDICAL MONUMENTS. 



13 



and repetition of the present. Hence it was a common practice 
to contract debts with a stipulation that they should be payable 
in the next stage of existence. Hence letters were thrown upon 
the funeral pile, that the deceased might carry to his relatives and 
friends in Paradise information of the wishes and proceedings of 
those who remained on earth. And thus, upon the death of a 
chieftain, whatever he had most valued in this life — armor, orna- 
ments, horses, dogs, sometimes even his household servants — were 
either burned or interred with him, that he might resume his 
treasures at his entrance on a higher sphere. 

A very large number of Celtic or Druidical monuments still 
exist in France, especially in the western districts and along tlie 
southern shores of Brittany. They are of various descriptions. 
Tlie menhir, or poulvan, is a mass of rough-hewn stone fixed up- 
right in the ground like an obelisk, and frequently exceeding 30 
feet in height. These occur either singly or arranged in vast 
lines or avenues, as in the well-known instance of Carnac, in the 
department Morbihan. This monument, the most extensive and 
celebrated in France, consisted originally of several thousands of 
these rude pillars of granite, and has been likened to " an army 
of petrified giants.''* The dolmen is composed of a large block 
or slab of stone supported horizontally upon tAvo or more stones 
in an upright position, so as to form a sort of table or altar. It 
was upon these, no doubt, that the sacrifices were offered. They 
are known in France by different names — pierre levee, pierre 




Druidic Dolmen, named Pierre Leree^ near Poitiers, 13 feet long and 3 thick 
(mentioned by Rabelai.-^). 

* H. Martin, i., 49. 



14 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Chap. I. 



couverte, pierre levade. Sometimes they are of considerable size, 
and form a stone chamber or grotto, through whicli a man may- 
pass upright : dolmens of this kind are called allees couvertes, or 
allees des fe'es. To these must be added the cromlech, or circle 
of stones, which is supposed to have some occult connection with 
the serpent- worship of the Druids ;* the pierre branlante, or rock- 
ing-stone, poised with such exquisite precision on a single point 
as to be easily movable by the hand, notwithstanding its stupen- 
dous bulk ; and the tumulus, or barrow, which was the usual place 
of sepulture. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



A. AUTHORITIES. 

The most complete collection of the original 
documents from which the History of France 
is drawn is that entitled Recueil des Histori- 
enfi des Onules et de la France^ in 20 vols, 
folio, tlie first of wliich was published in 1 738, 
.ind dedicated to Louis XV. This noble work 
is the production of the Benedictines of the 
congregation of St. Maur, the principal editor 
being the celebrated Dom Martin Bouquet. 
It is not often to be met with in England. 

The Ordonnances des Rois., 21 vols, folio, 
is another most important and valuable pub- 
lication. It was commenced in 1T23, and con- 
tinued under various editors down to 1849. 

The Historia Francoruvi of Andre and 
Fransois Duchene is excellent, but incom- 
plete, extending only to the reign of Pliilippe 
le Bel. It was the earliest undertalcing of tlie 
kind, the fli"st volume having appeared in 
1G3T. 

MezeraU sometimes called the Father of 
French history, published his work between 
lG4'i and 104 '. Writing at a time of great 
political excitement, during the regency of 
Anne of Austria and the wax's of the Fronde, 
Mezerai aimed chiefly at pleasing tlie multi- 
tude and pleading tlie cause of popular liberty. 
Hence he is not remarkable either for deptli 
of learning or for accuracy in the statement 
of facts. His remarks are often judicious and 
instructive, but he does not profess to have 
consulted the original sources of information. 
His work obtained an immense reputation, 
which it has preserved in great measure down 
to our own times; but it has much declined 
in credit since the scientific researches of the 
modem school of French historians. 

The History of France by the Perc Daiiiel, 
a Jesuit, publislied in 1713, is distinguished 
by far greater accuracy, and must always 
r.mk as a standard work. The earlier part, 
however, is the best : as he approaches mod- 
ern times Daniel becomes less trustworthy, 
and shows himself by no means free from the 
prejudices of his order and his age. 



The Abbe Vellij, ^yhose work appeared in 
1755, is an author of some merit and of con- 
siderable celebrity ; but he writes throughout 
in the style and tone of a courtier, and he con- 
tinually gives a false view of facts by throw- 
ing over them a coloring of modern refine- 
ment and romance which is wholly incongru- 
ous and out of place. Velly's history was 
continued by Villaret and Garnier. 

A history was published by Louis IHcrre 
Anquetili under the consulate, and by the di- 
rection of Napoleon, which became widely 
popular in France. It is executed with intel- 
ligence and with gi-eat perspicuity of style, • 
but is little more than a compilation from 
Mezerai and Velly. 

Among tlie many distinguished recent au- 
thors must be named M. de Sismondi, whose 
work, however, in thirty volumes, is some- 
wliat cumbersome and tedious; there is an 
abridgment in three vols. Svo; M. Henri 
Martin^ perhaps the most valuable of all, who 
has been principally followed in the "Stu- 
dent's Histoiy of France;" M. Michelet; M. 
Theodore Lavallee ; and an excellent work by 
MM. Bordier and Ckarton^ "L'Histoire de 
France d'aprcs les documents originaux et les 
monuments de I'art de chaque epoque," the 
concluding parts of which have just issued 
from the press (Dec, 1800). 

The series edited by M. GuizoU under the 
title of " Memoires relatifs a rilistoire de 
France depuis la fondation de la Monarchie 
jusqu'au XIII' si^cle," is also of first-rate im- 
portance. Other works bearing on particular 
epochs will be specified in succeeding notes. 

B. THE CELTIC TRIBES OF GAUL. 

The Celts are divided into two great branch- 
es, the Gael and the Kymri ; and though these 
two languages are clearly of the same origin, 
yet they are unintelligible to one another, and 
the diiference between them is greater than 
between the ancient Scindinavian and tlie 
German languages. (Zauss, Grammatica 
Celtica., Prjefatio, p. v.) It is admitted by all 



* The serpent, from its property of changing; its skin every year, was the 
symbol of constantly renewed existence — of immortality : hence its appear- 
ance in the mystical system of the Druids. 



Chap. I. 



THE CELTIC TRIBES OF GAUL. 



15 



Celtic scholars that the Gaelic is more ancient 
tlian the Kymric, or, to speak more correctly, 
represents an older stage of the language. 
'Iha Gaelic has a genitive and dative case, 
while the Kymric is destitute of cases alto- 
gether. The initial s in Gaelic has degener- 
ated into h in Kymric ; thus, saul^ the Gaelic 
word for sun, appears in Welsh in the form 
heol.* In the time of Caesar the Kymri had 
obtained possession of all Gaul west of the 
Rhine, with the exception of the southwestern 
corner, inhabited by the Aquitani or Basques. 
It has indeed been maintained by many schol- 
ars, from Ciesar's statement, that the Belgas 
were not Celts at all, but of Teutonic extrac- 
tion. In one passage Cassar says (B. &'., ii., 
4) : "• Plerosqus Belgas esse ortos a Gennanis, 
Rhenumque antiquitus transductos propter 
loci fertUitatem ibi consedisse, Gallosque, qui 
ea loca incolerent, expulisse." In another 
passage (fi. G.,i.,l) he informs us that the 
BelgM differed from the Celts or Gauls in lan- 
guage, laws, and manners. But Amedee Thi- 
erry justly observes that throughout the Com- 
mentaries of Cpesar the BelgK are evidently a 
distinct people from the GeiToans, and he un- 
derstands the passage above quoted to mean 
that the Belgse came into Gaul from Ger- 
many^ i. e. , the Transrhenane district, which 
was inhabited by Germans in Cscsar'stime. 
(See A. Thierry, Hist, das Gaulois^ Introduc- 
tion, p. 35-4S ; H. Martin, Hist. France, i., p.- 
22.) With regard to the difference of lan- 
ciimge between the Gauls and the Belgae, in 
all probability they spoke different dialects 
of the same language. This may be inferred 
from a passage of Strabo (iv., p. 176), who, aft- 
er mentioning the threefold division of Gaul 

* In like manner, the more ancient forms svar in 
Sanscrit and sol la Latlu appear aa hvari in Zend and 
4iAios in Greek. 



among the Aquitaniang, Belgse, and Celts, 
says that the Aquitanians differed wholly 
from the two others in person as well as lan- 
guage, but that the Belgse and Celts resem- 
bled each other in general external appear- 
ance, and differed only a little in their lan- 
guage.* The testimony of Jerome is to the 
same effect. He had lived among the Treviri, 
a Belgic people, and he says that the Galatte 
in Asia Minor, who were unquestionably 
Celts, spoke almost the same language as the 
Treviri. t In addition to this, Priciiard has 
shown that the local names in Belgic Gaul so 
closely resemble those in Celtic Gaul as to af- 
ford a conclusive proof that these districts 
must have been inhabited by the same race.t 

The Belgfe were likewise among the earliest 
settlers in the British Isles. When Crosar 
invaded Britain he found the southern and 
southeastern coasts inhabited by tribes of Bel- 
gic origin, who had named the towns and dis. 
tricts after those from which they came on 
the other side of the Channel. (B. G., v., 12.) 
Their capital was Venta Belgarum (Winches- 
ter). It can hardly admit of doubt that these 
Britannic Belgse were Celts. 

On the Celtic origin of the Belgae, see, be- 
sides the authorities already quoted, Prich- 
ard, Physical Researches; Zeiiss, Die Deut- 
schen und die Nachbarstcimme, p. 1S6, seq. ; 
Brandos, Die Ethnographische V^erhdltniss 
der Kelten und Germanen., p. 83-92. 

* /tLHpov TrapaWaTTOvva^ raif yXwrroty, 

t Hieronym. Comment. Epist. ad Galataz, toI i 
p. 255, Paris. 

X Zeuss in like manner calls attention to Divitiacus 
king of the Belgic Suessiones (Csesar, B. G., ii. 4)' 
and Divitiacus the jEduan (ii., 5) ; Noviodunu'm, capl 
ital of the Suessiones (il., 12), and Noviodunum a 
town of the ^duans (vii., 55) ; Bibrax, a town of the 
Kemi (ii., 6), and Bibracte jEduorum (l., 23); Lug- 
dunum Batavorum, and Lugdunum on the Rhone. 




Temple of Pluto. Autun. 
CHAPTER II. 

GAUL UNDER THE ROMANS, TO THE GREAT BARBARIAN INVASION. 
B.C. 30— A.D. 407. 

§ 1. Division of Gaul into Provinces under Augustus. § 2. Progress of Civ- 
ilization ; Roman Architecture in Gaul. § 3. Revolt of Civilis and Julius 
Sabinus. § 4. Foundation of Christianity in Gaul ; Pothinus; Irenreus; 
the Decian Persecution. § 5. St. Hilary ; St. Martin. § G. Anarchy in 
Gaul ; Revolt of the Bagaudes ; Constantius Chlorus ; first Appearance 
of the Franks ; the Emperor Julian. § 7. The Franks jNIellobrand and 
Arbogast ; Irruption of the Northern Barbarians ; their Invasion of Gaul. 

§ 1. Upon the accession of Augustus to supreme power at Rome, 
the more important provinces of the empire were placed under the 
immediate government of the emperor, while the rest were left 
nominally in subjection to the senate and people. Gaul was in- 
cluded in the former class ; and, by a decree published at Nar- 
bonne, the country Avas partitioned into four great administrative 
districts : Gallia Narbonensis, the boundaries of Avhich were left 
unaltered ; Aquitania, which was considerably enlarged, and 
reached from the Loire to the Pyrenees and the Cevennes ; Gal- 
lia Lugdunensis, which extended from the Loire to the Rhone 
and the Saone, and northward, beyond the Seine, as far as the 
rivers Oise, Somme, and Marne ; and, lastly, Gallia Belgica, which 
comprised the northern districts up to the boundary of the Rlnne, 
and, following the course of that river, embraced, in addition, lJ|p 
territories of the Treviri, Sequani, and Hclvetii, so that ils eastern 
limits bordered closely on the Lake of Constance.* 

* Belgica also contained two subdivisions, callr-d (jcrmania S'ipci-ior and 



B.C. 28. DIVISION INTO PROVINCES. 17 

The central seat of government was fixed at Lugdunum, or 
Lyons, a city which, founded by the consul Munatius Plancus in 
B.C. 42, became within fifteen years the flourishing metropolis of 
Gaul, and the favoi*ite residence of the Roman emperors. Here 
Augustus sojourned several years,, from B.C. 16 to B.C. 10. Four 
great roads radiated from the capital, leading respectively to the 
Mediterranean, to Narbonne and the Pyrenees, to the British 
Channel at Gessoriacum (Boulogne), and eastward to the Rhine. 

The Roman organization was gradually but steadily established 
throughout the country. Every effort was made both to attach 
the people to their new masters by liberal grants of civil and po- 
litical privileges, and to render rebellion impossible by effacing the 
old traditions, and totally changing the centres of authority and 
influence. Six cities — Lyons, Narbonne, Orange, Aries, Frejus, 
Beziers — were endowed by Augustus with all the rights and im- 
munities of Roman citizenship. Others, such as Aix, Toulouse, 
and Nismes, were colonies enjoying the Jus Latinum ; Avhile sev- 
eral others, again, obtained important municipal advantages with- 
out becoming Roman colonies. Many of tlie provincial capitals 
now changed their names, and adopted in difl:erent shapes the ti- 
tle of the emperor. Thus Bibracte, capital of the -ZEdui, became 
Augustodunum, whence the modern name Autun ; the chief town 
of the Lemovices Avas styled Augustoritum ; that of the Turones, 
Caesarodunum. Gergovia, the memorable scene of Csesar's fail- 
ure, forfeited its rank as capital of the Arverni, which was trans- 
ferred to a new city called Augustonemetum, now Clermont-Fer- 
rand. Csesaromagus in like manner became the capital of the 
Bellovaci, at the expense of the ancient Bratuspantium. 

A general census taken in b.Co 28, gave a total of 4,163,000 
Roman citizens in Gaul. 

§ 2. Intellectual civilization made rapid advances in Gaul un- 
der the Roman rule. Schools were founded in various cities — 
Bordeaux, Toulouse, Aries, Vienne, Autun, Rheims — in which 
every branch of literature and science Avas successfully cultivated. 
Some of these, particularly Aries and Autun, attained great emi- 
nence, so as to rival even the most celebrated academies of Greece 
and Italy. Gaul could ere long boast of her native orators, poets, 
historians, grammarians, linguists. The names of Cornelius Cal- 
lus the friend of Virgil, of Domitius Afer the master of Quintilian, 

Cermania Inferior, Avhich appear as separate provinces soon after the death 
of Augustus. They extended along the whole left bank of the Rhine, and 
formed a military frontier against Germany. Germania Superior in the 
south was divided from Germania Inferior in the north by the River Nahe. 
The capital of the latter pi'ovince was Colonia Agrip])inensis {Cologne), 
founded a.d. 51 in honor of Agrippina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. 



18 PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. Chap. II. 

of Trogus Pompeius, author of the first universal history, of Va- 
lerius Cato, and later, of the poet Ausonius, are deservedly dis- 
tinguished, and would in any age do honor to their country. Na- 
tives of Gaul w^ere to be found in course of time in all departments 
of the public service, and occupying posts of high trust and dig- 
nity. Some, it appeal's, Avere even admitted as members of the 
Koman senate. 

Most of the cities founded by the Romans, especially in the 
south of Gaul, vv^ere lavishly adorned with public buildings of all 
kinds, in the best style of art. Nismes, Aries, Orange, St. Remy, 
Valence, Vienne, Autun, exhibit specimens of monumental taste 
and splendor which are hardly surpassed even in Italy. The 
magnificent aqueduct called the Pont du Gard, which conveyed 
the waters of the River Gard to the city of Nemausus — the tri- 
umphal arch of Orange, and the noble theatre at the same place 
— the amphitheatre at Nismes, and the exquisite Corinthian tem- 
ple commonly known as the " Maison Carree" — the elegant 
bridge of St. Chamas — the temple of Augusta and Livia at Vi- 
enne — are all, in their several kinds, masterpieces of artistic skill 
and beauty, and remain for the most part in good preservation. 
Many of these works were probably designed, and certainly exe- 
cuted, by native artists. 

The Druidical religion was not proscribed or persecuted by 
Augustus ; but he took care to discourage and undermine it by 
means less invidious, and more certain of success. He excluded 
from the honors of Roman citizenship all who should practice the 
ancient rites, and especially any one who took part in the human 
sacrifices. He likewise endeavored to supplant the mythology' of 
the Druids by linking together the names of Celtic deities Avith 
those of Rome, and erecting altars to them under a double title, 
6.(7., Belenus- Apollo, Mars Camul, Diana- Arduinna. These ex- 
pedients proved widely successful. In the course of a few years 
Druidism Avas almost wholly abandoned by the nobility and influ- 
ential classes ; and, although it still retained its hold upon the 
loAver people, its authority as a dominant system was swept away 
forever. In the reign of Claudius, a.d. 43, severer measures AA^ere 
resorted to : an imperial edict prohibited, under pain of deatli, 
the exercise of the Druidical Avorship, and banished the priests 
from Gaul. They took refuge in Britain ; and, being pursued 
thither by the vindictive jealousy of the emperor, they were driv- 
en to conceal themselves among the mountains of Wales and 
Scotland. The Roman general Suetonius Paulinus attacked and 
discomfited them Avith terrible slaughter in their chief strong-hold 
in tlie Isle of Anglesey. In spite of this fierce persecution, tlie 
ancient superstition still lingered in the secluded districts of Gaul, 



A.D. 43-69. REVOLT OF CIVILIS AND SABINUS. I9 

particularly in Brittany and Auvergne. Eelics of Druidical cer- 
emonies are said to have survived as late as the 9th century after 
Christ. 

§ 3. Gaul vv^as thus reduced by degrees into a state of outward 
conformity with the laws, institutions, religion, and social man- 
ners of its conquerors ; its nationality disappeared, and became 
merged in the general- destinies and history of Kome ; and it seems 
to have subsided into one of the most tranquil and contented 
provinces of the empire. Some attempts were made, however, to 
rekindle the smouldering spark of Gallic independence. Among 
these the most remarkable was the insurrection of a Batavian 
named Claudius Civilis, a.d. 69, who, having roused to arms all 
the tribes of Belgic Gaul, proclaimed the establishment of the 
"Empire of the Gauls," and raised to the purple an officer called 
Julius Sabinus, who claimed descent from Julius Ccesar. The 
Roman legions were repeatedly defeated by the rebels, and the 
revolution seemed destined to prosper ; but at length a decisive 
battle was fought, in which the usurper was utterly worsted, and 
forced to escape into concealment. Civilis made his peace with 
the Emperor Vespasian, and, together with the tribes which still 
adhered to him, resumed his allegiance to Rome. The insurgents 
were permitted to return to their homes and possessions, with a 
complete amnesty for the past. Sabinus, after concealing him- 
self, with his devoted wife Eponina, for no less than nine years in 
a subterranean cavern, was at last discovered, and sent loaded 
with chains to Rome. Vespasian, resisting the passionate and 
pathetic entreaties of Eponina, consigned her husband to the exe- 
cutioners. Eponina demanded the privilege of sharing his fate, 
and suifered Avith unshaken fortitude and constancy. 

After this convulsive effort, the dream of a restored nationality 
seems to have vanished altogether from the Celtic mind. A long 
period of profound tranquillity succeeded, unmarked by any gi-eat 
historical transaction. The province of Gaul continued to ad- 
vance in civilization, refinement, and luxury ; and, during the 
reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, enjoyed its full 
share in the grandeur and glory of the empire. But from this 
point the national character appears to have rapidly degenerated. 
The indolence and apathy of the Gauls call forth more than once 
the animadversions of the historian Tacitus. 

§ 4. The precise date of the foundation of the Christian Church 
in Gaul has not been clearly ascertained. Some have maintained 
that St. Paul traveled through Gaul on his journey into Spain ; 
and that the first seeds of Christianity in both counti'ies Avere sown 
by him. . Another account names St. Luke and Crescens as hav- 
ing been sent by the same apostle to preach in Gaul ; and there 



20 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. Chap. IL 

are vague traditions that Trophimns, the disciple of St. Peter, and 
even the Apostle Philip, labored there.* 

These are scarcely more than conjectures. Christian teachers 
may very probably have visited Gaul either in the apostolic age, 
or that immediately succeeding ; but it is not until the reign of 
Antoninus Pius, in the middle of the second century, that we have 
any certain information on the subject. About a.d. 155, a band 
of missionaries from Asia Minor an-ived in Gaul, headed by Po- 
thinus and Irenasus, disciples of St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. 
They settled in and around Lyons ; and Pothinus became the first 
bishop of Lyons and Vienne. Twenty years passed ; numerous 
congregations had been gathered, and the Church had struck deep 
root ; but the fanatical passions of the heathen populace were now 
excited against the Christians ; they Avere insulted as guilty of 
" Thyestean feastings," and the most revolting impurities. Upon 
this, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius ordered a systematic persecu- 
tion of the new sect, and the command was obeyed with unsparing 
severity. One of the most precious records of the primitive Church 
is a letter from the distressed Christians at Lyons to their breth- 
ren in the East, giving an account of the cruel sufferings and mar- 
tyrdom of many faithful members of their body. Among these 
champions of the truth was the venerable Bishop Pothinus. Hav- 
ing endured, at the age of ninety, every species of indignity and 
torture, he was cast alive into prison, where he expired in three 
days. Great . numbers of his flock perished by a similar fate. 
The celebrated Irenreus, avIio succeeded Pothinus in the see of 
Lyons, was enabled in some measure to repair these calamities ; 
and, during the comparatively mild reign of Commodus, Chi'is- 
tianity in Gaul began again to raise its head. But an edict issued 
by Septimius Severus, in a.d. 202, renewed the cruelties against 
the converts, numbers of whom were capitally condemned for re- 
fusing to sacrifice to the gods of Pome, and sealed their testimony 
to the Gospel with their blood. IrensEus, so famous for his con- 
futation of the Gnostic heresy, is believed to have died a martyr 
under the persecution of Severus, a.d. 203. 

Toward the year a.d. 250 a numerous band of missionai'ies Avas 
dispatched to Gaul by Fabian, Bishop of Pome, imder the direc- 
tion of seven distinguished men whose names are preserved to us — 
Dionysius (St. Denis), Saturninus, Stremonius, Martialis, Trophi- 
mus, Gatian, and Paul. They became the founders of the sees 
of Paris, Toulouse, Clermont, Limoges, Aries, Tours, and Nar- 
bonne. From this date, in spite of the terrible jiersecution of 
Decius (a.d. 249-251), Gaul seems to have been gradually evan- 
gelized. Almost all the bishops above-named suffered for tlie faith 
* MoHheim, Hist., i., ]3G, no!es. 



A.D. 368. ST. HILARY— ST. MARTIN. 21 

under the Emperors Valerian and Diocletian, a.d. 2G0 and 286;* 
but their disciples, and fresh missionaries who arrived from Rome, 
persevered undauntedly in the Avork, and by the beginning of the 
fourth century the Church was firmly planted in all the principal 
cities throughout the land. Thirteen episcopal sees ai'e known to 
have existed at this period. 

§ 5. Two illustrious names adorned the Chiu'ch of the fourth 
century in Gaul — those of St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, and St. 
Martin, bishop of Tours. St. Hilary was consecrated to the see 
of Poitiers in the year 350, and distinguished himself as a stren- 
uous defender of the Catholic faith against the Arian heresy, which 
at that time was rampant in the Church. His reasonings were 
so powerful and unanswerable that the Arian party had no resource 
but to denounce him to the Emperor Constantius, by whom he 
was banished to Phrygia. Being recalled at the end of four years, 
Hilary attended the council of Seleuciain 359, where he once more 
manfully vindicated the Nicene faith against its advei-saries. In 
360 he returned to France, and procured the assembling of an im- 
portant council at Paris, in which the bishops of Gaul unanimous- 
ly declared their adherence to the orthodox faith, excommunicated 
the maintainers of Arianism, and appealed to the judgment of the 
Eastern Church for the purity and faithfulness of their teaching. 
Other synods were held on the same subject ; and Hilary became 
the main instrument of arresting and driving back the tide of 
Arianism, Avhich had begun to set in steadily toward the West. 
This famous prelate and confessor died in peace in the year 368. 
The Fathers speak of him in the highest terms of admiration ; St. 
Jerome entitles him " Latince eloquentise Rhodanus," in allusion 
to his animated and fervent diction. 

St. Martin was a native of Pannonia. At a very early age he 
sought the teaching of the Church in opposition to the will of his 
heathen parents, and formed the purpose of renouncing the world 
for an ascetic life. But, yielding at length to the commands of 
his father, he enlisted as a soldier, and was sent to serve for five 
years in Gaul. It was during this time that the well-known in- 
cident took place of his sharing his military cloak with a poor 
beggar whom he met at the gates of Amiens. Deeply impi-essed 
with a remarkable dream which followed this occurrence, Martin 
quitted the army, and was baptized at the age of eighteen. He 
repaired to Pannonia, where he converted his mother to Chris- 
tianity, and was afterward wonderfully successful in combating 
the Arians in Illyricum. Returning to France, Martin settled 
in the diocese of Poitiers, and established there the monastic sys- 
tem, then recently introduced into Europe from the East. The 

* Montmartre, which overlooks P.ivis from the northwest, is the reputed 
scene of the martvrdom of St. Denis. 



22 CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS. Chap. II. 

first monastery founded in France was that of Liguge, a few miles 
south of Poitiers ; the second Avas the celebrated Abbey of Mar- 
moutiers, also founded by St. Martm, near the city of Tours. 
Martin was soon elevated to the episcopal see of Tours. He de- 
voted himself thenceforwai'd to missionary labors; and so astonish- 
ing was his success, that it was universally attributed in that age 
to miraculous agency. The sanctity of St. Martin procured him 
extraordinary influence and veneration: kings and emperors vied 
with each other in doing him honor, and his place of sepulture, 
the cathedral called after his name at Tours, became the wealth- 
iest and most celebrated shrine in Gaul. St. Martin died at the 
age of eighty-one, about a.d. 400. 

§ 6. During the period of the decline of the Roman Empire, 
Gaul fell into a deplorable state of disorganization and misery. 
A general revolt of the peasants, under the Emperors Maximian 
and Diocletian, is known in history as the Bagaudie.* It became 
of serious importance, and was not suppressed without consider- 
able difficulty. The leaders of the insurrection Avere two Chris- 
tians named ^lianus and Amandus. After suffering repeated 
defeats, they threw themselves, with a small body of partisans, 
into a strong-hold in the neighborhood of Paris. Here they made 
a desperate defense against the imperial legions, but were at length 
overwhelmed and destroyed to a man, bravely fighting to the last. 
The ruins of their fortress, at the confluence of the Seine and the 
Marne, retained, during several centuries, the name of the "Cha- 
teau des Bagaudes." 

In the rearrangement of the empire which took place a.d. 292, 
Gaul was divided afresh into seventeen provinces, and became part 
of a preetorian prEefecture, of which the supreme government was 
fixed at Treves. f The administration of Gaul was now confided 
to the Caesar Constantius Chlorus, Avho took up his residence at 
Aries in Provence. The reign of Constantius Chlorus was, on 
the whole, prosperous ; but his utmost efforts were unavailing to 
protect the frontier of the Rhine against the ever-advancing flood 
of Teutonic invasion. His son, the great Constantine, on suc- 
ceeding to the throne, was compelled to undertake a campaign 
against the Franks, a formidable horde of Germans who were 
ravaging the northeastern provinces. He gave them battle near 
Treves, in the year 310, where they were totally defeated, and 
left several of their chieftains in the hands of the victors. It is 

* The insurgents bore the name of Bagauda;, which in the signification of 
rebels continued till the fifth century. 

t These 17 provinces formed two great masses, one consisting of the 10 
ProvincicE Gallicance in the north, and tlie other of the Septem Provincice in 
the south. It is probable that tlie Seven Provinces were governed by a vica- 
rius who resided at Ar!(';=, wliile the Ten were under ibc prirfectns prretoris 
at 'I' I eves. 



A.D. 352-3o0. THE FEANKS— J ULIAN. 23 

on this occasion that we find the first mention of the kings oi* 
princes of the Franks. The tribe, however, was known to the 
lioinans as early as the year 242, when they were routed near 
Mayence by Aurelian, afterward emperor ; an exploit celebrated 
by his legionaries in a song which ran thus : 

" Mille Francos, mille Sarmatas, semel occiditnus, 
Mille, mille, mille, mille Persas qucerimus." 

As the decrepitude of the empire became more and more mani- 
fest, the barbai'ians redoubled their aggressions, and began to es- 
tablish themselves permanently ha Gaul as in a conquered coun- 
try. In the year 352, during the contest for the throne between 
Constantius and Magnentius, both disputants had recourse to the 
fatal expedient of soliciting the aid of the German tribes beyond 
the Rhine. The decisive defeat of Magnentius was achieved 
mainly by these German auxiliaries ; but when the war had thus 
been brought to a close, the barbarians pushed to the utmost 
their advantage over their weak allies, and refused to recross the 
Rhine. All the frontier provinces were now abandoned to the 
violence of the invader. The Salian Franks seized upon the In- 
sula Batavorum and the greater part of Brabant and Hainault. 
Wherever they appeared, the most ruthless devastation marked 
their path ; and no less than forty of the most stately cities of 
Gaul, including Treves, Cologne, Mayence, Worms, Spires, and 
Strasburg, were at this time sacked and burnt to the ground. 

Constantius saw that unless these Germans, whom his own fol- 
ly had invited into Gaul, could be finally forced back beyond the 
barrier of the Rhine, the fairest territories of the empire would be 
wrested from his grasp. In this emergency he dispatched into 
Gaul his cousin Julian, a young man of great ability and jjromise. 
The emperor had hitherto treated him with suspicion, and even 
with severity : he waS now proclaimed Caesar, married to the em- 
peror's sister, and sent across the Alps in the beginning of 356. 
Julian attacked the Germans Avith extraordinary vigor and bril- 
liant success. After repulsing them first at Cologne and again 
near Sens, he completely overthrew their combined hosts at Ar- 
gentoratum (Strasburg), spread consternation among their tribes, 
and compelled them to sue for terms of peace. Julian returned 
in triumph to Lutetia (Paris), which became his favorite resi- 
dence. He greatly enlarged and embellished this city, which now 
began to take a high rank among the provincial capitals of Gaul. 
The remains of Julian's palace are still to be seen on the left 
bank of the Seine, under the name of the "Palais des Thermes." 
It was here that he was proclaimed Augustus, or Emperoi', by the 
soldiery, in the year 360. 

§ 7. The barbarians, Avhoni Julian had effectually overaAved, 
upon the first tidings of his death reappeared on tlic Pli-^-^i-'. 



24 INVASION BY NOETHERN BARBARIANS. Chap, II. 

frontier. They put to flight a division of the Roman army, and 
afterward pushed their ravages as far as Chalons, where they 
were defeated in 365 by Jovinus, lieutenant of the Emperor Va- 
lentinian. But, if scattered at one point, the invaders, ever re- 
cruited in vast multitudes from Germany, instantly made head 
upon another. Gratian, with the aid of a Frankish tribe whom 
he had taken into pay, gained a splendid victory in 378, and once 
more the remnant of the vanquished host was driven across the 
lihine. The leader of the Frank auxiliaries, named Mellobrand, 
was advanced to the dignity of consul for the year, in recognition 
of his brilliant services. 

But the very victories of the empire had noAv become the signs 
of its approaching ruin. No success could be achieved but by the 
arms of barbarian mercenaries, who, after receiving the emperor's 
pay, proceeded to dismember his territories and usurp his power. 
During the next reign we find a Frank named Arbogast insulting 
Valentinian II. in his palace, assuming the command of the army, 
;md directing the administration of affairs. A Gaulish rhetori- 
lian, Eugenius, afterward held the sovereign power for two years, 
and was defeated and killed by Theodosius in 395. The division 
of the empire under Arcadius and Plonorius soon consummated 
its destruction. Treves, the metropolis of the Gauls, was sur- 
prised, plundered, and razed to the ground by the Germans in 
398. Stilicho, the celebrated general of Honorius, gained some 
partial advantages against them, and averted for a short time the 
final catastrophe. But the whole barbarian Avorld was now surg- 
ing with revolutionary agitation. Asia poured forth her savage 
myriads in a new and irresistible migi-ation westward ; and the 
nations of northern Europe, unable to bear up against the torrent, 
burst their ancient barriers, and precipitated themselves like an 
overwhelming deluge on the Roman empire^ The Germans, un- 
der the various designations of Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Bur- 
gundians, marched upon the frontiers of Gaul ; and, having fought 
a successful battle with the Ripuarian Franks, who, faithful to 
the terms of their alliance with the Romans, valiantly defended 
tlie boundary of the Rhine, the invaders crossed that river during 
the night of the 31st of December, 406. From the territories of 
which they then took possession they were never afterward ex- 
pelled. Other tribes in succession crowded through the breach 
thus effected in the ancient defenses of the empire ; and the in- 
vading masses, becoming intermingled with the former population, 
bore down all opposition, and spread themselves through the land 
in permanent dominion. 

It is from this point, then, that we must trace the gradual for- 
mation of the existing French nation ; and here commences the 
modern History of Fi-ancc. 




Ruins of the Palace of Julian {Palais des Thermes) at Paris. 



BOOK II. 

G-ERMAK GAUL. 

A.i). 407-987. 



CHAPTER III. 



FROM THE GREAT BARBARIAN INVASION TO THE DEATH OF CLOVIS. 

A.I). 407-511. 

§ 1. Eeign of Constantine in Gaul. § 2. The Visigoths, the Burgundians, 
the Franks. § 3. Aetins ; Gaul invaded by the Huns undei- Attila ; Ste. 
GeneVieve ; Battle of Chalons. § 4. ^gidius ; Syagrius ; Fall of the 
Western Empire. § 5. Clovis, King of the Franks ;. his Baptism. § G. 
Alliance between Clovis and the Church. His conquest of the Burgun- 
dians and Visigoths. § 7. His Crimes; he becomes sole Sovereign of the 
Franks. 

§ 1. Upon the news of the irruption of the barbarians, the Ro- 
man legions stationed in Britain renounced the imbecile Honorius, 
and elected to the purple a private soldier bearing the auspicious 
name of Constantine. This adventurer collected a considerable 
army, and gained over to his cause the Burgundians and Franks 
by guaranteeing to them the lands of -which they had seized pos- 
session in the east and north of France. Thus powerfully re-en- 
forced, Constantine made himself master of the central and south- 
eastern provinces ; and, having routed and driven back across the 

B 



26 VISIGOTHS— BURGUNDIANS. Chap. III. 

Alps a force sent against him by Honorius, he was left in full 
possession of the greater part of Gaul. The reign of Constantine 
lasted three years, during which he carried his victorious arms 
into Spain, and was even invested by Honorius with the honors 
of Augustus. In the year 411 his good fortune deserted him ; he 
was besieged in Aries, his capital, by the general of Honorius, and 
his means of defense being exhausted, was compelled to throw 
himself on the unconditional mercy of the emperor. His life was 
promised him, but Honorius, to whose court the fallen usurper: 
was sent captive, made no scruple in violating the engagement. 
Constantine was put to death by the executioners before he reach- 
ed Eavenna. 

§ 2. Amid the indescribable anarchy which followed the fall of 
Constantine, three out of the crowd of struggling German nations 
gradually acquired the preponderance in Gaul — namely, the Visi- 
goths in the south, the Burgundians in the east, and the Franks in 
the north and west. 

The Visigoths, after the sack of Eome and the death of Alaric 
in 410, had made terms of alliance with Honorius, and their chief- 
tain Ataulphus had received in marriage Placidia, the sister of the 
emperor. Honorius was now easily persuaded to make a grant 
of the southern provinces of France to his powerful brother-in- 
law. The Visigoths, crossing the Alps, defeated Jovinus and Se- 
bastianus, two pretenders to the empire, took by storm the cities 
of Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, and soon subdued the whole 
country from the Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay. The king- 
dom thus founded was transmitted by Ataulphus to his successors, 
and its limits were more strictly defined by a new treaty Avitli 
Honorius in 418. Toulouse became the capital of the Visigoths, 
and their power extended from that city northward as far as 
Poitiers, and westward to the shores of the ocean, including the 
districts of Saintes and Bordeaux. In other words, it embraced 
the whole of the Eoman Aquitania. The Visigothic thi'one was 
occupied during more than thirty years by Theodoric, a prince of 
distinguished ability and renown, whose name will reappear in the 
events which follow. 

The Burgundians had appropriated, at the time of the grand 
invasion, the province called Germania Superior, or Alsace ; but 
having defeated and put to death the usurper Jovinus, they ob- 
tained from Honorius, in recompense, the Avhole province of Gallia 
Sequanensis, and their boundaries soon reached from the Lake of 
Geneva as far as Coblenz on the Ehine. Toward the south they 
were separated from the Visigoths by the Ehone, the Durance, and 
the AUicr. Their principal cities were Lyons, Geneva, Basle, 
Autun, and Langrcs. Such Avas the origin of the kingdom of 



A.D. 410-447. THE FRANKS— AETI US. 27 

Burgundy, which lasted upward of a century, and was ultimately 
merged in the empire of the Franks. Both the Burgundians and 
the Visigoths were Christians, but had embraced the heresy of 
Arius, which at the time of their conversion was pi'ofessed and 
favored by the reigning emperor Valens. 

The Franks, a people destined eventually to become the found- 
ers of the most splendid monarchy of Europe, continued long the 
allies of Rome, and sustained in many a hai'd-fought field the sink- 
ing fortunes of the empire. Their earliest settlements Av^re be- 
tween the Rhine, the Scheldt, and. the Ardennes mountains — the 
country formerly inhabited by the Nervii and Menapii : it was 
now called Toxandria. By successive encroachments the Franks 
gained possession of the whole of Belgium, and at length advanced 
their boundaries to the banks of Somme. In 413 they captured and 
plundered, for the fourth time, the Roman metropolia of Treves, 
and subsequently occupied Cologne and the entire territory be- 
tween the Meuse and the Rhine. The Franks, it must be ob- 
served, were not a single nation, but a confederation consisting of 
various cognate tribes, of which the principal were the Salii, the 
Ripuarii, the Sicambri, the Bructeri, and the Chamavi. The coun- 
try subject to them became known from a very early date by the 
name of Francia.* 

§ 3. Under the successor of Honoi-ius, Valentinian III., a child 
of six years old, the task of maintaining the imperial government 
in the west was undertaken by Aetius, a general who by his tal- 
ents and energy retarded for near thirty years the extinction of 
the Roman rule in Gaul, and acquired the title of the "last of the 
Romans." The army commanded by Aetius was composed al- 
most entirely of barbarian troops. His first successes were ob- 
tained over the Visigoths of southern Gaul ; next he attacked the 
Burgundians, expelled them from the districts of the Vosges and 
the Moselle, and drove them back into the mountains of Savoy. 
A more memorable exploit was his defeat of the Salian Franks 
under Clodion, who, in 447, had seized the cities of Tournay and 
Cambrai, and were ravaging the whole province of Belgica Se- 
cunda. They Avere overthrown with immense slaughter at a 
place called Helena, and chased back beyond the Scheldt. Aetius 
marched afterward against the revolted Bagaudse in the valley of 
the Loire, and inflicted on them three decisive defeats. In mem- 
ory of these victories we find him extolled by the contemporary 
poet Sidonius Apollinaris as the " Liberator of the Loire." 

While the triumphs of Aetius thus seemed to promise a revival 
of the supremacy of Rome, a fresh tide of barbarism was prepar- 
ing to launch itself upon western Europe. The ferocious Attila, 

* For farther particulars respecting the Franks, see Notes and Illustrations 
(A). 



28 ATTILA'S INVASION. Chap." III. 

king of the Huns, marched upon Gaul with a motley multitude 
numbering, according to Jornandes, 500,000 warriors : he crossed 
the Khine in February, 451, and overran all the border provinces, 
marking his route with horrible cruelties and merciless devasta- 
tion. Metz was taken by storm and reduced to ashes ; Troyes 
was next assaulted, and owed its preservation, according to tradi- 
tion, to the courageous self-devotion of its bishop, Lupus, or St. 
Loup. Orleans, in like manner, is said to have been saved by the 
intervention of St. Aignan. The terrified citizens of Lutetia, on 
the point of abandoning their homes and property to the havoc of 
the spoiler, were reassured by a peasant maiden named Genoveva, 
who announced, in the name of Heaven, that the invaders would 
not be permitted to come within sight of the walls. The event 
verified her predictions : Attila, instead of advancing upon Paris, 
turned aside toward the Marne ; and Genoveva has been honored 
in all subsequent ages, under the name of St. Genevieve, as the 
tutelary saint of the metropolis of France. 

Aetius, having been joined by Theodoric the Visigoth, followed 
the track of the retreating Huns, and came up with them in the 
plains of Champagne, not far from Chalons-sur-Marne. Here Avas 
fought, in the last days of June, 451, one of the most sanguinary 
battles recoi'ded in history. The noble Theodoric fell pierced by 
an arrow at the commencement of the action, and was trampled 
to death by a charge of cavalry. His son Thorismund was severe- 
ly wounded, and narrowly escaped capture. When night fell, such 
had been the prodigious numbers engaged, and such the confusion 
Avhich reigned throughout the field, that it was impossible to de- 
termine which side remained victorious. The morning revealed 
the terrible extent of the destruction ; it is said to have reached 
the almost incredible number of 162,000 slain. Attila remained 
inactive in his camp, and was thus understood to confess himself 
vanquished ; but neither army was in a condition to renew hos- 
tilities. The Visigoths, and the Franks under Merovig, who had 
fought gallantly under the banners of Aetius, took their departure, 
and when Attila broke up his camp and retired, Aetius prudent- 
ly foi'bore to molest his retreat. Attila evacuated Gaul, and vin- 
dicated his title of the " Scourge of God" by wasting northern 
Italy, and carrying devastation to the gates of Rome. He died in 
453, and with him fell the empire of the Huns, which at one time 
threatened to overwhelm the whole of western Europe. 

Soon after the great victory of Chalons, Aetius fell a victim to 
the jealousy of the dastai'dly Valentinian, Avho sent for him to 
Eome, and murdered him in liis own palace in the presence of his 
courtiers. In the course of the following year the emperor was 
himself assassinated, in revenge for a private outrage. 



A.D.447-47G. FALL OF THE WESTERlSf EMPIRE. 29 

§ 4. Under Avitus and Majorian, who succeeded, the shadow 
of imperial authority continued to linger in Gaul, and the gov- 
ei-nment was confided to the patrician ^gidius. His good qual- 
ities procured him such estimation among the J'rankish tribes 
that they deposed their king Hilderic or Childeric, and elected 
the Roman general to fill his place. Childeric retii'ed into Thu- 
ringia, but was recalled by his subjects eight years afterward, 
and war immediately followed between -ZEgidius and the Franks. 
The latter recovered all the territory of which they had been dis- 
possessed by Aetius ; they even expelled the Romans from Lute- 
tia, and forced them back upon the Loire. -ZEgidius was succeed- 
ed in 465 by his son Syagrius, Avho established himself at Sois- 
sons, and seems to have governed, under the title of Count, in 
the districts of the Oise, the Somme. the Marne, and the Aisne. 

It was during the administration of Syagrius that the crum- 
bling edifice of the Westei'n Empire at length fell prostrate, nev- 
er to rise again. In the year 476 the army broke out into re- 
volt, deposed the Emperor Romulus Augustulus, and placed the 
government in the hands of Odoacer, chieftain of the Heruli, one 
of the Gothic tribes. Odoacer proclaimed that the Empire of 
the West had ceased to exist, and took possession of Italy under 
the modest title of Patrician, pretending that he held it as a de- 
pendent province of the Byzantine crown. Syagrius, on the news 
of these events, sent an embassy to the Emperor Zeno, offering to 
rise in arms against Odoacer; but Zeno prudently declined the 
proposal, and, making a treaty with the usurper, confirmed him 
in the government of Italy, while he abandoned Gaul altogether 
to its own resources and destinies. 

It was impossible to foresee which of the several powers among 
which Gaul was then divided, or whether any of them, would ul- 
timately obtain the dominion of the country. At first sight the 
chances seemed in favor of the Visigoths, whose monarchy, now 
reaching to the banks of the Loire, comprised at least a third part 
of Gaul, Avhile toward the south it stretched beyond the Pyrenees 
into the heart of Spain. But there was one great obstacle to the 
complete establishment of the power of the Visigoths in Gaul ; 
they professed an hei-etical forrri of Christianity — they were Ari- 
ans, while the mass of the- Gallo-Roman population was firmly 
attached to the primitive Catholic faith. This difference of be- 
lief engendered among the orthodox bishops and clergy a deep 
aversion to the Visigothic rule ; and the influence of the priest- 
hood being then predominant, it was evident that the final arbi- 
tration lay mainly in their hands. Amid the general decomposi- 
tion of the ancient social system, the lower orders had learned to 
look up to the Church as their most powerful defender ; it waa 



30 CLOVIS KING OF THE FEANKS. Chap. III. 

the bishop who administered justice, redressed grievances, ap- 
])eased tumults, sheltered the fugitive in the asylum of his palace, 
and alleviated by his charity the miseries of war. An authority 
thus deeply rooted and universally respected was not likely to 
accept the dominion of a race of foreign heretics, who lost no 
opportunity of oppressing and persecuting, even to imprisonment 
and death, the professors of the true faith. The bishops looked 
round for some new element by means of which the wreck of so- 
ciety might be .reconstructed ; and they were led, by virtuous mo- 
tives, to fix their hopes upon the Franks, who, although still pa- 
gans, seemed open to any powerful influence, and offered a prom- 
ising field for missionary enterprise. The Franks were at that 
moment in the rudest state of barbarous ignorance, unskilled in 
military science, and to all appearance quite unfit to cope with 
such a vigorous empire as that of the Visigoths ; but, armed with 
the patronage and co-operation of the Church, their ultimate tri- 
umph was secure — for the Gallic nation, as distinguished from 
the extraneous races of the barbaric invasion, Avas thus engaged 
in their favor. Such, doubtless, was the secret of the great social 
revolution of the close of the fifth century in Gaul. " It was the 
Church," as M. Michelet observes, " that made the fortune of the 
Franks."* 

§ 5. Chikleric, king of the Taiian Franks, died at Tournay, his 
capital, in the year 481. During his exile in Thuringia he had 
seduced, and afterward married, Basina, wife of the king of that 
country. The issue of this union was a son named Chlodowig, 
better known by his Latin designation of Olovis. When he suc- 
ceeded his father, Clovis was not more than fifteen years of age. 

This is the epoch usually, and on the whole correctly, assigned 
to the foundation of the French monarchy. It must, however, 
be observed that, at the time of his accession, Clovis did not pos- 
sess a foot of territory within the present boundaries of France, 
and was merely the chieftain of a petty tribe numbering no more 
than 5000 soldiers. In the fifth year of his reign, at the age of 
twenty, Clovis marched against Syagrius, the (so-called) Roman 
governor of the district around Soissons. The armies met near 
that city ; Syagrius was defeated; and, having no means of renew- 
i ng the contest, fled to the court of Alaric the Visigoth at Tou- 
louse. Clovis seized the territory which he had governed, and 
thus swept away the last remaining vestige of Eoman domination 
in Gaul. Syagrius Avas delivered up by the treacherous Goth 
into the hands of the conqueror, who, after detaining him in pris- 
on wliile he completed the reduction of his late dominions, put 
him secretly to death. 

* Michelet, Hist. F., i.. 195. 



A.D. 476-496. HIS BAPTISM.. gi 

An incident in this first campaign of Clovis deserves notice as 
illustrating the manners of the times, the rude form of govern- 
ment which prevailed among the Frankish tribes, and the person- 
al character of their leader. The soldiers had carried off from 
one of the churches of Reims a consecrated vase of considerable 
beauty and value. The Bishop of Eeims sent a messenger to 
Clovis to entreat that the vase might be restored. The kino- 
promised satisfaction ; and, at a general division of spoil which 
took place at Soissons, he requested, as a favor, that the precious 
vase might be placed at his disposal, in addition to the portion 
which fell to him by lot. All consented, with the exception of 
one soldier, who, raising his battle-axe, struck a violent blow at 
the vase, exclaiming, " Never shalt thou have more than thy allot- 
ted share." Clovis dissembled his resentment ; but a year after- 
ward, at a general review of his troops, he approached the soldier 
who had thus insulted him, and, taking his axe from his hands, 
threw it at his feet, Avith a reproof for not keeping his arms in 
better condition. The man stooped to pick up his weapon, when 
Clovis, seizing the moment, cleft his skull with a single blow of 
his own battle-axe. " It was thus," cried the stern chief, " that 
thou didst cleave the vase at Soissons." 

In the year 493 Clovis espoused Clotilda, a Burgundian prin- 
cess, who had been educated in the orthodox faith, although her 
nearest relatives wei-e Arians. Possibly Clovis was aware of and 
appi-eciated this fact ; at all events, his union with Clotilda was 
a politic and fortunate step, as it procured him the support of the 
Gallo-Eoman Church, and powerfully furthered his design of 
bringing the whole country under his dominion. Clotilda labored 
earnestly to effect the conversion of her hiisband ; but Clovis, 
though he permitted their eldest child to be baptized, refused for 
some years to make any farther concession to the entreaties of 
his consort. At length an emergency arose which brought about 
an event thus anxiously desired, and fraught with such important 
consequences. 

In 496 the powerful tribes of th'e Alemanni, hitherto on friend- 
ly terms with the Franks, crossed the Rhine and attacked the 
Ripuarian Franks, whose principal city was Cologne. The Ripu- 
arians besought the aid of Clovis ; the Salian chief marched to 
their support, and the combined army of the Franks gave battle 
to the Alemanni at a place called Tolbiac, near Cologne. The 
shock was rude, and the event for some time uncertain ; but, in 
the critical moment, Clovis raised his hands to heaven, and, in- 
voking the God of Clotilda, vowed that if victory should declare 
for his banners, he would at once accept the Christian faith and 
present himself for baptism. Then, rushing into the thickest of 



32 CLOVIS. Chap. lil. 

the fight, he rallied his wavering troops by his example : after a 
desperate struggle, the Alemanni, having lost their king, gave way 
on all sides, and abandoned the field. The victorious Franks 
pursued them beyond the Rhine ; several of the defeated tribes 
became the vassals of the conquerors, and a large part of their 
territory was annexed to the Frankish dominion. On his return 
from the campaign Clovis did not forget his engagement contract- 
ed on the field of battle. Submitting himself to the instructions 
of St. Eemy, he soon announced himself prepared to receive the 
initiatory rite of our religion. It took place, with all possible 
pomp and splendor, in the basilica of Reims, on the feast of 
Christmas, 496. "Bow thy head, Sicambrian !" said St. Remy, 
who officiated ; " adore what thou hast hitherto burned — burn 
what thou hast hitherto adored !"* Upward of three thousand 
Franks, the flower of the nation, were baptized on the same day. 

§ 6. It is impossible to oven-ate the importance of this event 
in the then condition of the Western world. Christianity, as em- 
braced by Clovis and his followers, became a principle of unity by 
which the various heterogeneous elements of society in Gaul were 
assimilated and harmonized. The whole strength of the Church 
was now enlisted on the side of the Franks, and the alliance was 
eminently serviceable to the interests of both parties. The 
Church found in the advancing power of Clovis an instrument 
which might humble the persecuting tyranny of the Visigoths and 
Burgundians, and unite the whole country in dutiful submission 
to the see of St. Peter ; while Clovis acquii'ed in the Church an 
ally possessing the full confidence of the people whose land he 
aimed to conquer, and ready to proclaim him as the chosen of 
Heaven, whose sceptre would prove the surest guaranty of a na- 
tion's prosperity and greatness. Either without the other must 
have failed, but together they were irresistible. 

One of the first results of the conversion of Clovis Avas the sub- 
mission of the Armorican states, which in 497 made a treaty of 
alliance with the Franks, and became, in fact, their tributaries. 
Clovis thus advanced his boundaries from the Seine to the Loire. 
Three years later Clovis declared war against the Burgundian 
king Gondebald, a sanguinary tyrant who had murdered his two 
elder brothers, one of them being the father of Queen Clotilda. 
The ai'my of the Franks gained an easy and complete victory 
over the Burgundians near Dijon ; Gondebald made his submis- 
sion to Clovis, and agreed to hold his dominions upon payment 
of an annual tribute. He was compelled to make ample conces- 
sions to the Catholics of his kingdom, who were now placed in all 

* "Mitis depone colla, Sicamber; adora quod incendisti, incende quod 
adorasti." — Gregor. Tuvon., ii., c. 31. 



A.D. 49G-507. HIS CONQUEST OF THE VISIGOTHS. 33 

respects on an equal footing with his Arian subjects. It was on 
this occasion that Gondebald pubHshed the code of Burgundian 
law known as the "Loi Gombette," by which the condition of the 
conquered race in Gaul was greatly improved and elevated. 

By the extension of his frontier to the Loire Clovis was brought 
" into contact with the empire of the Visigoths, and his ambition 
soon prompted him to seek fresh conquests in this direction. It 
was easy to find a pretext for the undertaking. Haranguing his 
warriors at their annual gathering in the Champ de Mars — " It 
grieves me," said Clovis, "to see the- misbelieving Visigoths in 
possession of the fairest provinces of Gaul. Let us march ; with 
the aid of God we shall surely overcome them, and divide their 
lands among ourselves." Clovis crossed the Loire in the summer 
of 507, and found the Visigoths, under their king Alaric II., en- 
camped toward the centre of Poitou. Propitious omens and mi- 
raculous interpositions are said to have waited on the path of the 
Frankish hero. Victory was promised him by a verse of the 
Psalms which the choir were chanting when his envoy entered 
the church of St. Martin at Tours. A white hind, of supernatu- 
ral size and beauty, pointed out a fordable spot in the swollen 
river Vienne.* A brilliant meteor was seen to stream forth from 
the steeple of St. Hilary at Poitiers, and take its course in the di- 
rection of the camp of Clovis. t The hostile armies met in the 
plains of Vouille', a few miles west of Poitiers, if The contest was 
neither long nor doubful, for the Gallo-Roman subjects of Alaric 
longed for the success of the Franks, and made but a feeble resist- 
ance. Alaric was slain by Clovis with his own hand ; his army 
was irretrievably broken and dispersed. Clovis took possession of 
the province of Aquitania Prima, from the Loire to the Garonne, 
and passed the winter at Bordeaux. In the following spring 
he pursued his conquest southward, captured Toulouse, and laid 
siege to Carcassonne. But meanwhile the powerful Theodoric 
the Ostrogoth, seeing the imminent danger of the extinction of 
the Gothic rule north of the Pyrenees, dispatched an army to the 
succor of the Visigoths, and the Franks were decisively I'epulsed 
before Aries. Clovis retraced his steps, and the Visigoths were 
thus enabled to preserve a small portion of their territory, called 
Septimania, of which the capital was Narbonne. Their northern 
provinces were reduced permanently under the yoke of Clovis. 
On his return, the victor received at Tours a congratulatory em- 
bassy from Anastasius, emperor of the East, who invested him 

* This spot is still known by the name of the " Gue de la Biche" (hind's 
ford), neai- the town of Lussac. t Greg, of Tours, ii., 36. 

X The field of battle is placed by some at Voulon, ten miles south of Poi- 
tiers. H. Martin, i.. 449. 

B 2 



34 CLOVIS : HIS CEIMES. Chap. III. 

"with the titles and insignia of Consul and Patrician. This was 
an additional sanction to his authority in Gaul, and tended much 
to the consolidation of his empire; for Clovis was now looked upon 
as having legitimately succeeded to all the rights and jurisdiction 
of the Roman Csesars. 

§ 7. The latter years of Clovis were stained by savage and re- ' 
morseless crime. Up to this time the Franks were a confedera- 
tion of tribes, each governed by its independent chief: Clovis, 
though raised by his talents to the supreme command of the na- 
tion, was in his own right no more than King of the Salians, and 
there was no guaranty that the rank of commander in chief would 
descend to his posterity. He resolved, therefore, to change the 
federative constitution into a monarchy, and to make the kingly 
power hereditary in his own family. This he accomplished by a 
series of delibex-ate murders. He first instigated the son of Sige- 
bert, king of the Eipuarians, to take the life of his aged father ; 
the parricide was immediately afterward slain by his orders, and 
Clovis then easily persuaded the Ripuarians to accept him as their 
sovereign. The chieftain of Arras was next deposed, and, after 
having been compelled to receive the tonsure as a priest, was be- 
headed, together with his son. In the same. way Ragnachaire, 
who reigned at Cambrai, and his brother, were betrayed into the 
power of Clovis, and put to death with his own hand. And, 
lastly, a similar fate befell the^Frankish chieftain of Le Mans. 
All these princes belonged, like Clovis, to the royal house of the 
Merovingians, and some of them were his near relatives. It is 
remarkable that these fearful atrocities are related with the most 
perfect coolness, and without a word of censure, by the historian 
Gregory of Tours, a man of distinguished piety and excellence. 

Such were the means by which Clovis found himself, in the 
year 510, sole sovereign of the Franks. He did not long enjoy 
the success of his sanguinary enterprise. This extraordinary 
man died at Paris on the 27th of November, 511, at the age of 
forty-five, after a reign of thirty years. He was buried in the 
church of St. Peter and St. Paul, founded by himself and Clotilda, 
which became afterward the abbey church of Ste. Genevieve. 



Chap. III. 



ORIGIN OF THE FEANKS. 



35 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



A. ON THE ORIGIN OF THE FRANKS. 

Tliis is an obscure subject, which has given 
rise to much controversy and various fanciful 
theories. According to the mediaeval chron- 
icles, the Franks were lineally descended from 
the ancient Trojans, and had for their pro- 
genitor a certain Francus, or Francion, a son 
of Hector. Escaping from the sack of Troy, 
they took refuge in Thrace, and there found- 
ed a city called Sicambria, from which tliey 
acquired the name of Sicambri. Driven 
thence in course of time by the Goths, the 
Franks traversed Germany, and established 
themselves at length on the Rhine. Such 
was the favorite popular belief up to the re- 
vival of letters in the IGth century. Another 
account was then put forth, which made the 
Franks an emigrant colony of the Celts of 
Gaul, who, after a lengthened expatriation in 
Germany, returned at the time of the great 
invasion to re-establish themselves in their 
native land. This view was much in vogue 
during the reign of Louis XIV., since it ex- 
plained away the conquest of Gaul by the 
barbarians in the 5th century. The Franks, 
on this hypothesis, entered Gaul for tlie pur- 
pose of delivering their fellow-countrymen 
from the foreign yoke of Rome ; the monarchy 
which they founded was a native and legit- 
imate monarchy ; and Gaul, under their rule, 
tecame once more an independent empire as 
of old. Tlie celebrated Leibnitz, again, con- 
jectured, from a passage in the anonymous 
Geographer of Ravenna, that the original set- 
tlement of the Franks was on the shores of 
the Northern Ocean, near tlie embouchure of 
the Elbe, in a territory called Maurungavia. 
And mucli discussion has arisen upon an an- 
cient tradition mentioned by Gregory of 
Tours (ii., 9) which would fix the birthplace 
of the Franks in Pannonia or Hungary. 

It was not till tlie year 1714 that the ex- 
planation now generally accepted as the true 
one was first published by Nicholas Freret, a 
member of the French Academie des Inscrip- 
tions et Belles Lettres. The Franks, accord- 
ing to this system, were never a single., dis- 
tinct people, and it is therefore idle to attempt 
to trace tlreir descent, or to determine pre- 
cisely their original place of residence. They 
were a confederation or league of Teutonic 
tribes, formed early in the 3d century, and 
seated in Lower Germany, between the We- 
ser, the Main, and the Rhine, adjoining on 
the south and on the east tlie similar confed- 
erations of the Sa.xons and the Alemanni. 
No mention is to be found of the Franks, un- 
der that name^i in any ancient classical au- 
thor ; they are not even noticed by Tacitus in 
his enumeration of the tribes of Germany. 
Tlie word Fkancia, however, appears in a 
map of the Roman empire dating from the 
reign of Theodosius the Great, in the locality 
just specified on the eastern bank of the 
Rhine ; and dispersed over the. same district 
we find the names of the Cherusci, Amsibarii, 



Chauci, and Chamavi. These, then, it is in- 
ferred, were the principal tribes of the Frank- 
ish confederation ; to which several others 
also belonged — the Bructeri, Sicambri, At- 
tuarii, Gatti, etc. Their collective designa- 
tion, Franks, has usually been taken to mean 
free meri: it appears, however, that the Ger- 
man word frek, frak, or frenk^ answers rath- 
er to the Latin ferox^ in its various significa- 
tions of bold, brave, haughty, fierce, and cruel. 

Although the Frankish tribes were nom- 
inally independent of each other, each pos- 
sessing its own chieftain, yet in process of 
time a certain predominance was acquired by 
one or two over the rest. The warlike Salians, 
who, toward the close of the 3d century, ob- 
tained a fixed settlement in the north of 
Gaul, became, in consequence of this success 
and other advantages, the dominant tribe ; 
and it was from one of their families, that of 
the Me7-oioings^ or children of Merowig, that 
the confederation chose its military leaders, 
as occasion arose. Such was the origin of 
what is commonly called the Merovingian 
line of kings. 

Pharamond, the son of Markomir, who is 
named by the chroniclers, and also by many 
modern writers, as the first in the series of 
Frankish monarchs, is now generally regard- 
ed as a legendary or fictitious, not a real per- 
sonage. " Qrtoique son nom soit bieu Germa- 
nique," says Aug. Thierry, ^^et son regno 
possible, il ne figure pas dans les histoires 
les plus dignes de foi." The earliest well au- 
thenticated king of the Salian Franks is Chlo- 
dion or Clodion, whose residence was at Uis- 
parguni, supposed to be Duisburg, between 
Brussels and Louvain. Clodion greatly ex- 
tended his territories, made himself master 
of Tournay and Cambrai, and penetrated as 
far south as the Somme. lie was defeated, 
however, by Aetius in 431 (as mentioned in 
the text), and after this concluded a treaty 
with the victor, in virtue of which the Salians 
became allies of the Romans, and furnished a 
contingent to their armies in Gaul. It was 
in this capacity that Meroveus or Merowig, 
who succeeded Clodion in 448, fought at the 
head of his tribe under the Roman banners in 
the great battle of Chalons. Merowig died in 
458, and was succeeded by his son Childeric. 
The league between the Franks and the Ro- 
mans, which had lasted twenty j'ears, was 
now broken by the intrigues of jFgidius, the 
imperial magister militioe in Gaul ; and Chil- 
deric, as related in the text, was expelled 
from his dominions. In 463 he was triumph- 
antly restored, and maintained a gallant and 
successful contest with ^Fgidius until the 
death of the latter in 4C5. After this Chil- 
deric renewed the alliance with the Romans, 
and supported them in arms against the Visi- 
goths, the Saxons, and the Alemanni. In ac- 
knowledgment of his services, he received 
from the Emperor Zeno the appointment of 
magister militioB in Gaul, a dignity which 
gave him a decided pre-eminence over the 



36 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. III. 



rest of the barbarian tribes, and in virtue of 
which the Franks claimed for their monarchs 
the right of legitimate succession from the 
Roman (Jsesare. (Jhilderic passed his latter 
yeare in peace and prosperity; at his death 
in 4S1 his honoi-s -were inherited by his son 
Clovis, who became the real founder of tlie 
Franliish empire. 

The various questions connected with the 
origin of the Franks and the consequences of 
their establishment in Gaul are largely dis- 
cussed by the following writers, who may be 
consulted with advantage : Oomte de Boulain- 
villiers, Hist aire de VAncie7i Gouvernenient 
de la France; Abbe Dubos, Histoire Critique 
de V Etablissement de la Mormrchie FranQaise 
dans les Gaiiles; Montesquieu, Esprit des 
Lois, liv. sxx. ; Lehuerou, InstitiUions Me- 
rovingiennes ; Abbe de Mably, Observatio7is 
sur V Histoire de F'ranee; Augustin Thierry, 
Recits des Te'mx)s Merovingiens ; Guizot, Es- 
sais sur VHistoire de France. 

'rhe relations between the Franks and the 
G-allo-Roman population in the Merovingian 
times form a fruitful topic of controversy 
among the above-cited authors. Boulainvil- 
liers, founding his system on the complete 
conquest and subjugation of Gaul by the 
Franks, maintains that the descendants of 
the latter, the haute noblesse of France, pos- 
sessed inalienably the position and rights of 
a dominant race, while the plebeian mass of 
the nation, the posteiity of tlie vanquished 
Celts, remained always and of necessity in a 
state of serf-like subjection. The learned 
Dubos, on the contrary, altogether ignores 
and repudiates the Frankish conquest, insist- 
ing that the Merovingian princes had been in- 
vested with the government of Gaul by the 
Roman emperors, and therefore exercised le- 
gitimately all the rights of sovereignty. The 
social and administrative condition of Gaul, 
according to him, remained under the Franks 
precisely what it had been under the Romans ; 
Franks and Gauls lived together on a perfect- 
ly equal footing, and were alike eligible to all 
public offices and liable to all public burdens. 
Montesquieu combats, and to a great extent 
overthrows, the theoiy of Dubos. The Abbe 
de Mably adopts certain portions of both sys- 
tems, and draws from them inferences tend- 
ing strongly to^'ard popular liberty and dem- 
ocratical government. The general conclu- 
sions of the modern philosophical school of 
historians may be seen in Guizot' s Essais, 
Nos. 2 and 4, and in the Becits Merovingiens 
of Thierry, vol. i., chaps. 2, 4, D. 

B. THE CONSULSHIP OF CLOVIS. 
The investiture of Clovis with the consular 
dignity by the Eastern emperor, altliough it 
added nothing to his real power, was a for- 
tunate circumstance of which the conqueror 
gladly took advantage to ratify and consoli- 
date liis already acquired sovereignty. It is 
plain, from the account given by Gregory of 
Tours, that botli Clovis himself and his sub- 
jects, barbarian and Roman, attached consid- 
erable importance to the fact. "• Igitur ah 
Anastasio Imperatore codicillos de consulatu 
accepit, et in basilica beati Martini tunica bla- 
te;\ indutus est et clilamyde, imponens verti- 



ci diadema. Tunc ascenso equite, aurum ar- 
gentumque .... prEesentihus populis manu 
propria spargens, voluntate benignissima ero- 
gavit, et ab ea die tanquam consul et Augus- 
tus est vocitatus." (Greg. Turon., il., 38.) 
Hincmar, in his life of S. Remy, says more 
precisely, "ab ea die consul et Augustus est 
appellatus." The Abbe Dubos asserts, but 
altogether without proof, that Clovis received 
from the emperor the appointment of jjrocon- 
sul as well as that of consul ; other writers 
imagine that the Frankish chieftain was form- 
ally designated as Associate in the Empire. 
This is adopted by Sir Francis Palgrave {Rise 
and Progress of the English Commomuealth., 
i., p. 36U), and substantially by Mr. Hallam 
(Middle Ages., i., note iii.). M. Lehuerou, in 
his able work, the Histoire des Institutions 
Merovingicnnes^ arrives at the following con- 
clusions : That the definitive establishment 
of the Franks in Roman Gaul resulted at the 
same time from the voluntary concessions of 
the emperors and from their own violent ag- 
gressions. That the Merovingians reigned 
partly by legitimate succession, and partly 
by right of conquest. That the earlier Frank- 
ish kings, Meroveus and Childeric, had en- 
gaged in the service of the emperors as foede- 
raii, and in that quality had received ter- 
ritories, which they distributed among their 
soldiers, after the example of the Visigoths 
and Burgundians. That Clovis, whose reign 
did not commence till after the fall of the em- 
pire, nevertheless recognized, like the Visi- 
goths of Spain, the Ostrogoths of Italy, the 
Burgundians of Gaul, the superiority, and up 
to a certain point the suzerainship, of the 
Emperors of the East. That the Gallo-Ro- 
man provincials coincided in this view, and 
that consequently their acquiescence in the 
government of Cluvis became more willing 
and more complete from the moment of his 
nomination as consul and patrician, acknowl- 
edged dignities of the ancient empire. Last- 
ly, that, long after Clovis and his posterity 
had become independent masters of Gaul, the 
Jlerovingian princes looked upon the Eastern 
emperors as their superioi-s., and addressed 
them, when occasion arose, in terms express- 
ive of this relationship. For instance, The- 
odebert, writing to the Emperor Justinian, 
commences thus ; " Domino illustri et prse- 
cellentissimo et patri, Justiniano Imperatori, 
Theodebertus rex." In speaking of tliem- 
selves, on the other hand, the Frankish mon- 
archs use the terms "vir illustris," "-potes- 
tas," "gloria," "celsitudo," titles of second- 
ary and subordinate honor, reserving that of 
niujestas for the emperor alone. 

Considerable stress has been laid upon an 
act of cession by Justinian to Theodebert, 
king of Austrasia, in 540, by which the Greek 
emperor abandoned to the Franks all his 
rights of sovereignty in Gaul. The historian 
Procopius states that from that time forward, 
and onlij from that date, the Frankish kings 
deemed themselves authorized to preside at 
the games in the circus at Aries, like the Pra^'- 
torian prefects of old, and to strike golden 
coins bearing their own effigy. But this was 
a mei'e piece of empty affectation on the part 
of the emperor, and the facts are probably ex- 



Chap. III. 



CONSULSHIP OF CLOVIS. 



37 



aggerated by the vanity and boastfulness of 
the Byzantine chronicler. The Emperor of 
Constantinople did not possess at this time a 
single rood of teri'ltory in Gaul, and had no 
rights of empire to give up but what were 
purely imaginary. The Franks had occupied 
the country for upward of fifty years ; their 



government was firmly established, their au- 
thority undisputed. Nevertheless, the cir- 
cumstance related by Procopius is curious find 
not without importance, as illustrating the 
traditional and ostensible relationship be- 
tween the barbarian conqueroi's of Gaul and 
their imperial predecessors. 



38 



GENEALOGY OF THE MEROVINGIANS. 



CUAP. IV. 



Genealogical Table of the Merovingian Dtnastt. 

Clodion 
(42T-44S). 

i 
Meroveus 
(448-458). 

I 
Childeric I. 
(458-481). 

1 

Clovis 

(4S1-511). 



Thierry I., 
k. of Metz. 



Chlodomir, 
k. of Orleans. 



Childebert I., 
k. of Paris. 



Clotaire I., 

k. of Soissous, 

sole king 

(558-551). 



Caribert, 

k. of Paris, 

(ob. 56T). 



Gontran, 
, of Burgundy. 



Theodebert, 

k. of Austrasia 

(ob. 612). 



Sigebert I., 

k. of Austrasia 

(ob. 575). 

I 
Childebert n., 
k. of Austrasia 
and Burgundy. 



Thierry IL, 

k. of Burgundy 

(ob. C13). 



Chilperic I., 

k. of Soissons 

(ob. 684). 

Clotaire II., 
sole king 
(613-628). 



Dagobert I. , 

sole king 
(628-638). 



Caribert, 
k. of Aquitaine. 



Sigebert II., 
k. of Austrasia. 



Dagobert II., 
k. of Austrasia. 



Clotaire IV., 

k. of Austrasia 

(ob. 719). 



Clovis II. 
(638-656). 



Clotaire III., 

k. of Neustria 

(656-6T0). 

I 

Clovis 

(CT3-674). 



d, of Aquitaine. 

I 

Eudes, 
d. of Aquitaine 

(68S-T35). 



Childeric II., 
k. of Austrasia. 



Chilperic II. 



Thierry III., 
k. of Burgundy. 



Clovis III. 
(691-695). 



Childeric III. 

(T42-752), 

deposed by Pepin le Bref. 



Childebert III 
(695-711). 

Dagobert III. 
(711-715). 

Thierry IV 
(720-737). 







m.ijiiWii['<iiM,my 




CHAPTER IV. 

THE MEROVINGIANS. FROM THE DEATH OF CLOVIS TO THE ACCESSION OF 
PEPIN LE BREF. A.D. 511-752. 

§ ] . Division of the Kingdom of the Franks among the Sons of Clovis. § 2. 
Burgundian War ; Clotaire sole King of the Franks. § 3. Civil "Wars of 
the Merovingians ; the Kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria. §4. Sighe- 
bert King of Austrasia ; Queen Brunehaut ; Chilperic King of Neustria ; 
Fredegonda; Murder of Sighebert. § 5. Assassination of Chilpei-ic; Clo- 
taire II. ; Government of Brunehaut in Austrasia ; her Fall, Death, and 
Character. § 6. Mayors of the Palace; Pepin of Landen. § 7. Eeign of 
Dagobert. § 8. The "Eois Faine'ants;" Ebroin ; St. Leger. §9. Pepin 
of Heristal ; Battle of Testry. § 10. Government of Pepin of Heristal ; 
Grimoald ; Death of Pepin. § 11. Charles Martel; his Seizure of the 
Property of the Church. § 12. France invaded by the Saracens of Spain ; 
Eudesof Aquitaine; Battle of Poitiers. § 13. Charles Martel, Duke of the 
Franks; receives an Embassy fi'om Pope Gregory III. ; his Death. §14. 
Pepin Le Bref ; crowned King of the Franks ; the Carlovingian Dynasty. 

§ 1. The kingdom of the Franks extended, at the death of 
Clovis, from the German Ocean to the Adoiir and the Cevennes, 
and from the confines of Brittany to the Rhone and the Saone. 
The Rhine was their boundary on the northeast. Burgundy and 
Bfflltany had been reduced to the condition of tributary states, 

* It was upon this chair that Napoleon, in August, 1804, distributed the 
crosses of the legion of honor to the soldiers assembled at Boulogne for the 
invasion of England. Napoleon caused the chair to be brought from Paris 
for the expi'ess purpose. 



40 DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM. Chap. IV. 

and were bound to furnish a contingent to the Frankish armies. 
France, however, was very far from being brought into a well- 
organized political unity. South of the Loire the Fi-anks had 
few permanent settlements ; it was simply a military occupation ; 
the civil government remained with the Gallo-Romans, and was 
almost entirely in the hands of the bishops. The chief object of 
Clovis and his followers, in those successful expeditions which we 
call their conquests, was to enrich themselves by plunder, to levy 
ransoms, impose tributes, and carry off slaves. Clovis had thus 
acquired, in the course of his wars, immense property of various 
kinds — landed estates, palaces, farms, forests, flocks and herds, 
treasure and jewels — the aggregate of which composed Avhat was 
called the " domaine royal." Upon his death these possessions 
were divided, according to the custom of the Germans, among his 
four sons ; but this division had scarcely a political character. 
Each prince became possessed of territorial property which gave 
him preponderance in a particular district, and he thus naturally 
acquired the sovereignty of that district. It is in this sense that 
we must understand what is commonly called the division of the 
Frankish monarchy among the sons of Clovis. 

They all fixed their residence on the north of the Loire — a sufil- 
cient proof that the dominion of the Franks toward the south was 
still feeble, partial, and insecure. The eldest son, Theodoric or 
Thierry, took for his share the eastern provinces, from the Meuse 
to the Rhine, in addition to which he possessed beyond the Loire 
the districts of Auvergne, Limousin, and Quercy. His capital was 
Metz. Chlodomir reigned in the Orleannais, Maine, Anjou, and 
Touraine. His residence was Oi'leans. Childebert became King 
of Paris and its neighborhood, with the addition of the Armorican 
district, stretching from Rouen to Rennes, Nantes, and Vannes. 
Clotaire, the youngest of the brothers, established himself at Sois- 
sons, and governed the ancient country of the Salians, together 
with the maritime tract between the Somme and the embouchux'e 
of the Meuse. He had also some distant possessions on the Up- 
per Garonne, and in the Cevennes. This arrangement presents a 
strange interlacing of dominion, by which each of the princes, in 
order to reach his remoter provinces, had to traverse the territo- 
ries of his brother. Continual discord and war was the conse- 
quence. 

§ 2. Queen Clotilda had long vowed vengeance against 
murderers of her fixther; and her three sons, at her earnest' 
treaty, undertook in 523 an expedition against Sigismund and 
Gondemar, the joint kings of Burgundy. The Burgundians were 
defeated, and Sigismund, falling into the hands of Chlodomir, was 
barbarously murdered, with his whole family. But in a second 



A.D. 511-560. CLOTAIRE SOLE KING. 41 

campaign, Chlodomir was allured by the enemy into an ambus- 
cade, and fell dead on the spot, pierced by a hundred wounds. 
The Burgundian war continued, Avith some intervals, for ten years 
longer ; but in 534 the kingdom was finally subdued, and annexed 
to the empire of the Franks. Few crimes, even in that age of 
barbarism, surpass in a1||ocity that committed by Childebert and 
Clotaire against the orphan children of their brother Chlodomir. 
Queen Clotilda had taken these young princes under her own 
guardianship, hoping to see them one day put in possession of 
their father's kingdom. By a base artifice Childebert and Clotaire 
decoyed their nephews into their power, and then sent a messen- 
ger to Clotilda with a pair of scissors and a naked sword, bidding 
her decide whether the royal youths should be shaven, and thus 
made incapable of reigning, or be put to death outright. The 
queen, almost beside herself with horror, exclaimed that she would 
I'ather see them dead than degraded. Clotaire, on receiving this 
reply, murdered the two elder princes with his own hand ; and 
was about to poniard the third, Clodowald, when some of his at- 
tendants rushed into the room, arid by main force bore away the 
child to a place of security. Clodowald, on reaching the age of 
discretion, renounced his regal inheritance, retired from the world, 
and died a priest. He was afterward honored with a place in the 
calendar of the Church ; and his name, slightly altered, survives 
in that of the celebrated palace of St. Cloud. 

The immediate descendants of Clovis were not long lived. 
Thierry, after having added Thuringia* to his dominions, died in 
534, leaving his son Theodebert to succeed him in the kingdom of 
Austrasia, as it now began to be called. Theodebert reigned only 
thirteen years, and his successor Theodebald died in 553, leaving 
the Austrasian crown without an heir. The vacant kingdom was 
seized by Clotaire ; and upon the death of Childebert in 558, this 
youngest of the sons of Clovis beheld the Frankish monarchy pass 
without dispute into his sole possession. His enjoyment of his 
power was brief; and his last years were embittered by a rebel- 
lion stirred up by one of his own sons, whom he at length took 
prisoner, and condemned, together with his wife and daughters, to 
be burned alive. This horrible tragedy took place in 560, and 
the wretched Clotaire expired precisely a year afterward, a prey 
to the deepest remorse. 

§ 3. Upon the death of Clotaire, a fresh partition of the empire 
was made among his four surviving sons ; and a period ensued 
which is perhaps the darkest and dreariest in the annals of France, 
being little more than a record of the furious passions, bitter ani- 
mosities, and destructive civil wars of the Merovingian family. 
* Part of Central Germany, answering nearly to Saxony. 



42 CIVIL WARS OF THE MEROVINGIANS. Chap. IV. 

Under the new arrangement, Caribert became King of Paris ; 
Gonthran, King of Orleans and Burgundy ; Chilperic, of Soisson-s ; 
and Sighebert, of Metz. The country beyond the Loire was di- 
vided in the same inconvenient fashion as before. The early death 
of Caribert without heirs occasioned a farther distribution in 567. 
The distinction between Austrasia anjj Neustria was now defi- 
nitely established : Sighebert became King of Austrasia (in the 
Prankish tongue Oster-rike), or the country of the Eastern Franks; 
Chilperic was recognized as King of Neustria (Ne-oster-rike), the 
land of the Western Franks. The limits of the two kingdoms 
are somewhat uncertain ; but the River Meuse and the forest of 
the Ardennes may be taken generally as the line of demarkation. 
Austrasia lay between the Meuse and the Rhine ; Neustria ex- 
tended from the Meuse to the ocean. Gonthran ruled over the 
third division of Gaul, which now acquired the name of Burgun- 
dy ; and a portion of Aquitaine was annexed as an appendage to 
each of the three ci'owns. A singular arrangement was made 
with respect to the city of Paris : it was declared to be neutral 
ground among the three princes, each engaging that he would 
never enter it without the consent of the other two. 

A considerable difference existed as to the character of the popu- 
lation and tendencies of the government in Austrasia and Neus- 
tria. Roman civilization never took root so deeply near the Rhine 
as in the interior of Gaul, owing to the continual invasions of the 
barbaric hordes. Thus a German population and German habits 
predominated in Austrasia. In Neustria, on the other hand, the 
Franks were less numerous, more scattered, farther removed from 
their original settlements and their German fellow-countrymen. 
They Avere but a colony of barbarians, transported into the midst 
of a nation and a civilization altogether Roman. Hence arose a 
strongly-marked distinction between the two states, deeper than 
that of geographical position. In Neustria, the monarchical au- 
thority was rapidly developed, and aStjuired a firmness and con- 
sistency Avhich were impossible in Austrasia. The situation of 
Austrasia favored the growth of aristocratic institutions. The 
German chieftains possessed large landed property, which gave 
them immense influence, and at length made them independent of 
the sovereign. Hence it was in Austrasia that the mayors of 
the palace first acquired their power ; the habits and preposses- 
sions of the Germans made it easier for them to perpetuate the 
dignity in their own family, and in the end to usurp supreme au- 
thority. From all this there resulted a spirit of intense i-ivalry 
between the kindred nations ; and the history of France for the 
next century is simply that of their struggles for predominance. 
During its earlier period the contest is carried on under cover of 



A.D. 560-573. SIGHEBEET— CHILPERIC. 43 

the personal animosities of two turbulent queens; and little ap- 
pears on the surface beyond their passions and crimes. But the 
real question in dispute is that between Koman and Teutonic 
Gaul; the latter eventually triumphed.* 

§ 4. Sighebert of Austrasia mai-ried, in 5G6, Brunechilda, or 
Brunehaut, the accomplished daughter of Athanagild, king of the 
Visigoths. Chilperic of Neustria, who had already a concubine 
named Fredegonda, a woman of remarkable beauty and talent, 
became a suitor for the hand of Galeswintha, sister to Brunehaut. 
The marriage took place ; but such was the influence of the 
abandoned Fredegonda, that she persuaded Chilperic to acknowl- 
edge her publicly as his mistress, and assign her a residence in 
the palace. Galeswintha refused to submit to this indignity, aiid 
demanded a separation. Chilperic contrived to soothe her by 
protestations of amendment ; but Avithin a few weeks the unhap- 
py queen was found strangled in her bed, and the crime was uni- 
versally attributed to the instigation of Fredegonda. In defiance 
of all decency, the king, immediately after his wife's death, mar- 
ried his guilty favorite. The indignation was loud and general ; 
and Brunehaut conceived against the murderess of her sister an 
implacable hatred and a ferocious thirst of vengeance. . 

Chilperic, abandoned by his leudes (chief retainers), was com- 
pelled to appear before the "mallum," the supreme court of the 
Franks, and was condemned to lose his crown. But for the in- 
terposition of his brother Gonthran, his life would have been for- 
feited. Brunehaut was prevailed on to accept an expiatory com- 
pensation (wehregeld) for her sister's life, and at this price Chil- 
peric was permitted to resume his throne. 

War burst forth with violence in 573, when Chilperic invaded 
and laid waste the dominions of Sighebert in Touraine and Poi- 
tou. Sighebert in turn assembled the Austrasians, entered Neus- 
tria sword in hand, and the whole line of country in his march 
became a prey to the wildest excesses. The mediation of Gon- 
thran of Bui-gundy and of St. Germain, bishop of Paris, with 
Queen Brunehaut, at length produced terms of reconciliation ; but 
a year had scarcely passed when the flame of war was kindled 
afresh, and Sighebert and Brunehaut .resolved never to lay down 
their arras until Chilperic should be hurled from his throne. The 
Neustrians were defeated near Angouleme, and Sighebert march- 
ed upon Paris ; Chilperic gave up all for lost, abandoned his cap- 
ital, and took refuge at Tournay with his wife and children. His 
leudes went over in a body to his rival, requesting his acceptance 
of the vacant thi'one. Sighebert consented, Avas elevated on the 
buckler, and proclaimed in due form King of Neustria. Frede- 
* Guizot, Jissais sur VHist. de F., Ess.ai 3. 



44 MUEDER OF SIGHEBERT. Cuap. IV. 

gonda now resolved upon a desperate attempt to retrieve her for- 
tunes by the assassination of Sighebert. Two of her pages un- 
dertook the deed : penetrating without difficulty to the presence 
of Sighebert in the midst of the festivities of his triumph, they 
struck him to the heart with poisoned daggers. 

The tide now turned against the Austrasians, who hurried back 
in consternation toward the Rhine. The Neusti'ian nobles recon- 
ciled themselves to Chilperic, and replaced him on the throne. 
The widowed Brunehaut remained a prisoner in the hands of her 
relentless rival. Her young son Childebert was carried off by a 
faithful attendant, and reaching Metz in safety, was proclaimed 
King of Austrasia, under the guardianship of Wardelin, mayor of 
the palace. These celebrated functionaries were now beginning 
to rise into importance. 

Brunehaut after a time made her escape into Austrasia, where, 
exerting all her ability, she succeeded in rallying round her a 
powerful party of the nobles ; after a prolonged struggle, a popu- 
lar insurrection, adroitly fomented by Brunehaut, turned the scale 
in her favor ; she recovered the guardianship of the young king, 
and at once assumed the direction of affairs. 

It would be tedious and useless to pursue the tortuous intrigues 
of this obscure period. In the year 587 we recognize the first 
germ of the feudal system in the " plaid" or treaty of Andelot, 
concluded between Childebert of Austrasia and Gonthran of Bur- 
gundy. The princes here established the principle of hereditaiy 
allegiance, enacting that nobles who had passed from one king- 
dom to the other should be compelled to return to the dominions 
of that sovereign to whom they had originally pledged their faith. 
At the same time they conceded the perpetuity of royal grants 
(benefices as they were termed), which had hitherto been precari- 
ous and revocable. 

§ 5. In Neustria, Fredegonda jDursued her career of cruelty, 
treachery, and bloodshed. She caused Clovis, a son of Chilperic 
by his first marriage, to be condemned and executed on a charge 
of sorcery ; his young wife was consigned to torture and the stake. 
Soon afterward Chilperic himself closed his agitated reign by a 
violent deatli. He was assassinated at Chelles, near Paris, in 
584. Fredegarius, a chronicler of the time, attributes the deed 
to the vengeance of Brunehaut ; but the general weight of testi- 
mony lays the guilt upon Fredegonda. The king, it is said, had 
lately discovered her criminal intercourse with one of the officers 
of the palace ; feai'ing the consequences of his anger, she resolved 
to secure her own life by sacrificing her husband. 

Chilperic was'Succeeded by his infant son Clotaire II., to whom 
his uncle Gonthi-an was appointed pi'otector. The death of Gon- 



A.D. 573-613. CLOTAIRE II. 45 

thran in 593 again thi'ew the chief power into the hands of Fred- 
egonda. She maintained a successful contest with Childebert of 
Austrasia, and restored the kingdom of Neustria to tlie whole of 
its ancient extent. This extraordinary woman died in 597, hav- 
ing had reason to congratulate herself on the complete success of 
her political ambition, if not on the full gratification of her pri- 
vate vengeance. History records few similar examples of atro- 
cious, and, at the same time, triumphant wickedness. Writers of 
all ages concur in holding up the memory of Fredegonda to the 
execration of posterity. 

The government of Austrasia remained in the hands of Brune- 
liaut during the minority of her grandsons Theodebert and Thier- 
ry, sons of Childebert II., and her administration seems to have 
been, upon the whole, wise and beneficent. But at length the 
nobility, whom she constantly sought to humble, rose against her ; 
she was driven from Metz in imminent danger of her life, and took 
refuge at the court of Burgundy. Here she seems to have given 
herself up to restless and culpable machinations, and fomented an 
unnatural warfare between the brothers Theodebert and Thierry, 
which broke out in 610. Theodebert was vanquished, and was 
cruelly put to death by his brother, together with his infant son, 
at the instigation of Brunehaut. With savage exultation, the 
haughty queen now re-established herself in the capital of Aus- 
trasia ; her enemies were crushed ; and her darling project, the 
reunion of all the Frankish kingdoms under one sceptre, seemed 
on the point of accomplishment. But a strange reverse of fortune 
was at hand. Thierry died suddenly in 613 ; the Austrasian no- 
bles once more coalesced against Brunehaut. Their leader in 
this movement was Pepin of Landen, a powerful chieftain in the 
neighborhood of Liege, and the progenitor of the kings of the 
Carlovingian race. The insurgents, who were joined by a strong 
party from Neustria and Burgundy, marched against Brunehaut : 
on the eve of battle this unfortunate princess was treacherously 
deserted by her army, made a precipitate flight, but was overtaken 
at the town of Orbe, near Neufchatel, and brought captive into 
the presence of Clotaire, the son of Fredegonda. Clotaire over- 
whelmed her with a torrent of reproaches, abandoned her for three 
days to every kind of torture and indignity, and then caused her 
to be fastened to the tail of a wild horse, so that the wretched 
queen's body was dragged, torn, and trampled into fragments. 
The remains Avere collected, and the ashes scattered to the winds. 

Few characters have been painted in more opposite colors by 
different writers than that of this famous Queen of Austrasia. 
A pattern of excellence accoi'ding to some, she is described by 
others as a monster of wickedness, with scarcely a rcdeemino- 



46 MAYORS OF THE PALACE. Chap. IV. 

quality. Under these circumstances we may safely conclude that 
neither extreme represents the real truth. The name of Brune- 
haut is associated with dark and foul crimes ; but it were unjust 
to overlook the favorable points of her character, which were nei- 
ther few nor unimportant. Some of the most eminent men of 
her time — such as St. Gregory the Great, Gregory of Tours, and 
the poet Foi'tunatus of Poitiers — have testified strongly in her 
praise, both personally and as a sovereign ; and their evidence 
throws considerable discredit upon the contraiy statements of 
later writers, of less established reputation. Brunehaut was, for 
her age, a liberal and discerning patron of the ai'ts ; and public 
works and buildings of great importance, undertaken or restored 
by her orders, remained for centui'ies to attest her munificence and 
patriotic zeal. 

§ 6. The death of Brunehaut concludes the first great struggle 
between Austrasia and Neustria, the real victory remaining on 
the side of the Austrasian aristocracy. The nobles took care to 
make their success the means of extending their power and estab- 
lishing their independence. Over each of the three kingdoms 
composing the empire of Clotaire II. a mayor of the palace was 
now appointed, who was, in fact, the nominee and instrument of 
the nobility.*" In a great council at Paris in 615, it was enacted 
that all benefices, or fiefs, should be hereditary and irrevocable ; 
ecclesiastical elections were to be made freely by the clergy and 
people ; and all bishops and nobles were authorized to appoint 
judges and tribunals for their respective territories, thus exempt- 
ing themselves and their dependants from the direct jurisdiction 
of the crown. This edict, known as the " constitvition perpetu- 
elle," is an incontestable proof of the triumph of the aristocracy ; 
and such was the situation of Clotaire, that he was compelled to 
acquiesce in this great diminution of the royal prerogative, in or- 
der to maintain himself upon the throne. He is described as a 
prince of consider^dble merit ; but his good qualities did not enable 
him to preserve for more than a few years the integrity of his do- 
minions. After making repeated concessions, Clotaire was com- 
pelled to erect Austrasia into a separate kingdom in favor of his 
son Dagobert. The young prince was proclaimed at Metz in 622, 
and Arnulf, bishop of Metz, and the mayor of tlie palace, Pepin 
of Landen, were named chief ministers. In other Avords, they di- 
vided the supreme power between them. 

§ 7. Dagobert succeeded his father in 628, and his reign may 

be regai'ded as the culminating point of the Merovingian dynasty. 

His authority was recognized from the Weser to the Pyrenees, 

and from the ocean to the borders of Bohemia ; and the Franks 

* On the Mayors of the P.ilaca, see Notes and Illustrations. 



A.D. 613-638. DAGOBERT. 47 

now acquired a decided preponderance among the nations of the 
West. The new king fixed his court at Paris instead of Metz ; 
and retaining near his person the chiefs of the turbulent Austra- 
sian nobility, especially Arnulf and Pepin, held them as hostages 
for the peaceable conduct of their order. Dagobert gained the 
good-will of the people by personally dispensing justice and re- 
dressing grievances in the provinces ; and in these circuits he did 
not spare the rapacity of the bishops and great proprietors. The 
Emperor Heraclius solicited his alliance ; the Lombards of Italy 
submitted their differences to his arbitration ; even the proud 
Bretons dared not brave the power of Dagobert ; their king re- 
paired in person to his court, and acknowledged for himself and 
his subjects the obligation of homage to the sovereigns of the 
Franks. 

The private life of Dagobert was marked by gi-oss licentious- 
ness. He is said to have had, at the same time, three queens-con- 
sort, besides numerous mistresses. These excesses, added to the 
lavish expenditure of his court, in the course of a few years ex- 
hausted his revenues ; and in order to raise money, he began to 
confiscate the estates of nobles who offended him, imposed exor- 
bitant taxes, revoked fiefs which had been granted in perpetuity, 
and exacted heavy contributions from rich churches and abbeys. 
Such violent oppression could not be practiced, even by Dagobert, 
with impunity. In an expedition against the Venedes, a Slavonic 
people in the valley of the Danube, the Austrasian troops aban- 
doned him, and thus caused a total rout of the Frankish army. 
Dagobert was now forced by the impracticable nobles to recog- 
nize the independence of Austrasia, and in 633 he elevated his 
son Sighebert to the throne of that kingdom. From that moment 
the Austrasians returned to their obedience, defended the frontiers 
of the empire with all their ancient valor, and drove back the 
Venedes into their forests. 

Little more is known with certainty of the history of Dagobert. 
His principal ministers were the "referendary" Audoen, better 
known as St. Ouen, bishop of Rouen, and Eligius, or St. Eloi, 
bishop of Noyon, originally a goldsmith or filigree-worker, and 
celebrated for the exquisite decorative works which he executed 
for several churches, especially for the Abbey of St. Denis. The 
king's confidence in these two excellent men is one of the most 
commendable traits of his character. Dagobert expired in Jan- 
uary, 638. With him departed the glory of the first race of 
Frankish sovereigns ; not one of the Merovingians who followed 
was worthy of the name of king. 

§ 8. The title of " Rois faineants" — " do-nothing kings" — ex- 
presses very aptly the character of the last descendants of the 



48 THE "ROIS FAINEANTS." Chap. IV. 

house of Clovis. At the moment when circumstances demanded 
from the occupants of the Frankish throne a more than ordinary 
sh£^e of talent and force of character, they lapsed into a state of 
imbecility and insignificance, both bodily and mental. Intemper- 
ance and debauchery entailed on them prematui-e decrepitude ; 
few attained the matui'e age of manhood; they rarely appeared in 
public, except at the annual pageant of the Champ de Mars ; and 
the mayors of the palace studiously encouraged them in habits of 
vice and sloth, in order to monopolize the government. It thus 
became an easy step, when the proper time arrived, to assume the 
name, as they had long exercised the reality, of royal power. 

Sighebert II. and Clovis II., who now inherited the dominions 
of Dagobert, were mere children of eight and four years old. The 
former nominally reigned in Austrasia, the latter in JSTeustria and 
Burgundy ; the administration resting with the mayor of the pal- 
rce, Pepin of Landen, and Uga, a confidential friend of Dagobert. 
P pin died in 640, and his son Grimoald was immediately named 
1 is successor. Upon the death of Sighebert in 654, Grimoald, 
^vho had governed with ability and success, imagined, not unnat- 
urally, that the moment had arrived when the effete Merovingians 
inight be thrust aside in favor of his own family. He had mis- 
calculated ; matters were not ripe for so great a change, and the 
attempt ended in the ruin of Grimoald. The infant son of Sighe- 
bert was tonsured, and conveyed to a monastery in Ireland ; and 
Grimoald, producing a forged will of the late king, proclaimed his 
^)wn son Childebert King of Austrasia. The nobles, indignant at 
an assumption of authority -not sanctioned by themselves, rose 
tumultuously, seized Grimoald and his son, and sent them prison- 
ers to Clovis, king of Neustria, by whom they were forthwith put 
to death (656). 

Clovis soon followed his brother to an early tomb ; and as he ' 
left three sons, a fresh opportunity was given to the unabated I'ival- 
ry between the two great divisions of the empire. The Austra- 
sians raised the second of the young princes, Childeric, to their 
throne. In Neustria and Burgundy the post of mayor of the 
palace, under Clotaire III., was occupied by Ebroin, a man of 
superior talent, who set himself energetically to repress the inor- 
dinate power of the nobility, chastising severely their tyrannical 
excesses, and thus gaining a high reputation for fearless justice. 
But after a time his government became arbitrary and cruel ; ac- 
knowledged rights were invaded ; ancient laws suspended or ab- 
rogated at his pleasui'e. A general coalition against the tyrant 
was the consequence, and the leadership of the revolt was under- 
taken by a personage not inferior in ability to Ebroin himself — St. 
Leger, bishop of Autun. Tlie conspii'acy was successful ; Ebroin 



A.D. 638-680. EBROIN— PEPIN. 49 

fell into the power of his enemies, and was confined in the monas- 
tery of Luxeuil, where he was forced to receive the tonsure. 
The young king, Thierry III., whom Ebroin had placed on the 
throne at^the death of Clotaire, was in like manner shorn of his 
locks, and then incarcerated at St. Denis. 

Childeric II., upon whom the monarchy now devolved, was su- 
perior in some respects to his degenerate race. He banished St. 
Leger, who had oftended him by too great plainness of speech, to 
the cloister of Luxeuil ; here the bishop found a companion in 
misfortune in the fallen Ebroin ; the two kindred spirits were 
speedily reconciled, and combined in plotting schemes of venge- 
ance. The murder of Childeric, which soon followed, was with- 
' out doubt the result of their conspiracy. The king was waylaid 
and assassinated in a hunting expedition near the palace of Chel- 
les, his wife and child sharing his fate (673). 

Ebroin and St. Leger now recovered their liberty ; and their 
alliance, having answered its purpose, was broken as quickly as it 
had been formed. They again became mortal enemies. Ebroin 
resumed the government in the name of Thierry ; St. Leger was 
taken captive in his episcopal city of Autun ; and having been 
deprived of sight, and kept long in confinement, was at last ar- 
raigned before a council, condemned as an accomplice in the mur- 
der of Childeric, and beheaded. It is not easy to understand the 
grounds upon which this prelate has received the honor of canon- 
ization. 

§ 9. Ebroin now carried his hostility against the higher nobles 
to a still more violent extreme, and by persecution and spoliation 
alienated all the most powerful families of Neustria. The victims 
of his tyranny formed a new combination against the oppressor, 
Avhich, founded on the strongest instincts of our nature, and favor- 
ed by the circumstances of both kingdoms, could not fail of suc- 
cess. 

Pepin, called de Heristal, and his cousin Martin, now held the 
supreme power in Austrasia, under the title of dukes. They 
took the field against the Neustrians in 680, but in the first en- 
counter fortune favored the arras of Ebroin ; the Austrasians 
were routed, and Duke Martin taken prisoner and put to death. 
Ebroin followed up his victoiy by invading Austrasia ; but Avas 
suddenly cut short, in the full tide of success, by the hand of an 
assassin. This remarkable man had ruled with absolute power 
for twenty-three years, postponing for that period the inevitable 
triumph of German ra-istocracy over the dynasty of Clovis. The 
Austrasians, now under the sole command of the vigorous Pepin 
d'Heristal, a second time invaded Neustria, and after some years 
of desultory warfare a decisive battle was fought at Testry, in the 

C- 



50 PEPIN. Chap. IV. 

Vermandois, in the year 687. Here the Neustrian army, com- 
manded by Thierry III. and the mayor of the palace Berther, suf- 
fered an irreparable defeat. The battle of Testry is one of the 
turning points in French history. It gave the death-blgw to Me- 
rovingian royalty: it brought to a termination the struggle be- 
tween the two great members of the Frank empire ; it assured 
the preponderance of Teutonic over Roman Gaul. 

Pepin d'Heristal was now master of France. The helpless 
Thiei'ry awaited at Paris the arrival of the conqueror, and sur- 
rendered himself to his pleasure. Pepin confirmed to him, with 
much show of respect, the empty name of king, together with one 
of the royal residences. The whole reality of sovereignty he re- 
tained in his own hands, under the title of Duke or Prince of the 
Fi'anks. 

§ 10. Pepin transferred the seat of government into Austrasia, 
residing either at Heristal on the Meuse or at Cologne. He care- 
fully re-established the ancient national institutions, especially the 
solemnity of the " Mallum," which was held annually on the cal- 
ends of March. The pageant king repaired to this assembly in a 
car drawn by oxen, clad in regal robes, with his long hair and 
beard floating in the wind. He took his seat upon a throne of 
gold, and here gave audience to foreign embassadors, repeating to 
them, as if of his own will, the answers put into his mouth. He 
received the compliments of the nobles, spoke a few words in fa- 
vor of the Church, and enjoined the army to hold itself in readi- 
ness for service on the day and at the place which should be indi- 
cated. This done, the king was I'econveyed in the same state to 
his villa of Maumagues (between Compiegne and Noyon), to be 
there guarded with all honor, while Pepin administered the active 
government, "at home with justice and peace, abroad by prudence 
and the strength of his invincible arms."* 

Two years after the victory of Testry, Pepin subdued the Fris- 
ians, who had revolted from the Franks and asserted their inde- 
pendence. In a long series of campaigns which followed — against 
the Saxons, the Alemanni, the Suabians, the Thuringians, the Ba- 
varians — the Franks, under the leadership of Pepin, seem to have 
been uniformly successful, so that they completely recovered their 
ancient supremacy in Germany. These events became important 
in another point of view : they opened a wide door for the prop- 
agation of Christianity among the Teutonic nations. In the track 
of Pepin's conquests there followed a zealous band of mission- 
aries, chiefly of Anglo-Saxon race, by whose exertions multitudes 
of their pagan countrymen were won over to the fjiith. St. Willi- 
brord, a native of Northumberland, who was at the head of one 
* Ainiales Metcnses, Hist, cles Gmilcs, vol. ii., j). 080. 



A.D. 680-719. CHARLES MARTEL. 5] 

of these expeditions, was consecrated Archbishop of the Frisians 
by Pope Sergius in 696.* 

The wars of Pepin occupied his whole reign : it was not till the 
year 713 that he found himself for the first time at peace. The 
succession of phantom kings during this period was more than 
usually rapid, and scarcely deserves to be chronicled. Thierry, 
Clovis, Childebert, and Dagobert, all died in the space of twenty- 
three years, and all in early manhood. Still Pepin avoided the 
dangerous experiment of a direct usurpation of the throne. He 
appointed his eldest son Duke of Champagne, and the younger, 
Grimoald, mayor of the palace in Neustria ; and in 714, finding 
his end approaching, he nominated the latter his successor, but 
under the fiction of providing for the administration in the king's 
name. Grimoald was suddenly assassinated at Liege, whither he 
had come to attend his father's death-bed. Pepin roused himself 
to avenge the outrage by the execution of the murderers, and di- 
rected that the honors destined for Grimoald should be inherited 
by his infant son. This was an unwise arrangement. The office 
of mayor of the palace had never yet been deemed hereditary ; 
and, moreover, Pepin had a third son, Charles, in the full vigor 
of manhood, and possessed of great talents, who might far more 
advantageously have been named to succeed his father. But 
Chai'les was illegitimate, and betAveen his mother and Plectrude, 
the wife of Pepin, tliere reigned a bitter feud. The influence of 
Plectrude prevailed, and the infant Theodebald was declared heir 
to his grandfather, under her guardianship, to the entire exclusion 
of Charles. Having made these last dispositions, Pepin expired 
on the 16th of December, 714. He had governed France pru- 
dently and prosperously for more than twenty-seven years. 

§ 11. Plectrude, a woman of considerable energy, endeavored to 
maintain herself at the head of affairs, governing in the name of 
Dagobert III. and her infant grandson. But in 715, the disinher- 
ited son of Pepin, so illustrious afterward as Charles Martel, es- 
caped from his prison at Cologne, roused the martial spirit of the 
Austrasian nobles, and induced them to accept him with enthusi- 
asm as their leader. As soon as he could collect an army Charles 
marched in force against the Neustrians, who had elected a rival 
mayor, Rachenfried, and inflicted on them a disastrous defeat at 
Vinci, near Cambi*ai, which laid Neustria completely at his mercy. 
The vanquished party formed an alliance with Eudes, or Odo, 
duke of Toulouse, who, on being recognized by them as King of 
Aquitaine, brought a large auxiliary force to their assistance, and 
they then again took the field. They were beaten, however, a 
second time, in 719, by Chai-les and his Austrasians, near Sois- 
* Bede, Ecclts. Hist., lib. 5, cap. 11. 



52 CHARLES MARTEL. Chap. IV. 

sons; and thenceforward the young hero seems to have establish- 
ed his authority without opposition over the three kingdoms of 
Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy. Southern France remained 
chiefly under the dominion of Eudes of Aquitaine. 

Depending as he did upon the army, Charles's first object was 
to recompense his soldiers for the services by which his power 
had been acquired. He had no means of rewarding them by 
grants of land after the fashion of his predecessors, for the whole 
country was now partitioned out among the great leudes, in fiefs 
which they claimed to hold in absolute possession. He therefore 
resolved to confiscate, for the profit of his barbarous adherents, the 
enormous accumulation of property, which, under various names, 
was enjoyed by the clergy. Bishops and their cathedrals, abbeys 
and monasteries, wei'e ruthlessly despoiled of their wealth ; and 
Charles even went the length of appointing his chief officers to 
some of the most valuable dignities of the Church, for the sake of 
the domains and revenues annexed to them. These acts of sac- 
rilegious spoliation produced the most deplorable consequences 
throughout the country. Charles justified himself by the plea of 
necessity ; but it may be doubted whether he wonld have ventured 
so far, had not the Church itself fallen into a miserably corrupt 
and disordered state. A covetous luxurious spirit was general 
among the clergy; the bishops had become great provincial po- 
tentates, scarcely to be distinguished from the secular covmts and 
dukes ; the monastic rule was notoriously neglected ; the priests, 
for the most part, Avere grossly illiterate, and lived in open con- 
cubinage. In such a condition of the ecclesiastical oi'der, its plun- 
der was not likely to be resented as a national calamity. Having 
lost its influence, the Church would obtain but little sympathy for 
the loss of its endowments. 

The lands thus distributed by Charles Martel were held by the 
species of tenure afterward called feudal ; that is, upon condition 
of personal military service to be rendered by the vassal when re- 
quired by the superior. It has been supposed that the system of 
fiefs, of which this Avas the essential principle, originated with 
Charles Martel ; and, at all events, it would appear that the du- 
ties incumbent on the holders of benefices were now for the first 
time formally defined, together Avith the penalties for non-fulfill- 
ment. Charles thus organized a body of adherents closely at- 
tached to him by the tie of private interest, Avhom he could assem- 
ble in arms under his standard at any moment. With this sup- 
port, he felt his poAver firmly consolidated in France, while he was 
also enabled to act promptly and efficiently upon any point of ex- 
ternal danger, as occasion might require. 

§ 12. One of the great exploits for Avhich the name of Charles 



A. D. 719-732. INVASION BY THE SARACENS. 53 

Martel is renowned is his memorable defeat of the Saracens of 
Spain. These dreaded infidels penetrated the passes of the East- 
ern Pyrenees in 719, and descended on the territories of Eudes 
of Aquitaine. The Aquitanians defeated them under the walls 
of Toulouse in 721, leaving the field heaped with an incredible 
multitude of corpses. It Avas the first serious reverse sustained 
by the Moslem arras since their appearance in Europe. But their 
enterprise was not long interrupted : four years afterwai'd the 
Moors captured the cities of Narbonne, Cai-cassonne, and Nismes, 
and reduced the whole of Septimania to submission. Gaining 
the valley of the Ehone, they carried pillage and desolation into 
the heart of Burgundy ; the rich city of Autun was mercilessly 
sacked in 725, and the infidels extended their ravages to the root 
of the Vosges mountains. A second time, however, the inunda- 
tion subsided. Hearing that the great Frankish captain had taken 
the field with an overpowering force, the Moorish emir hastily re- 
traced his §teps and regained Septimania, where he died soon after- 
ward. 

In 731 Abderraliman, the lieutenant general of the Arabian 
monarch in Spain, commenced an expedition on a gigantic scale, 
with the avowed object of subduing the whole realm of France at 
once to the sceptre of the caliphs and the faith of Islam. No 
danger so portentous had threatened western Christendom since 
the days of Attila. Choosing a different point of invasion from 
that of his predecessors, Abderrahman poured his troops through 
the rugged gorge of Roncesvalles, and debouched upon the valleys 
of Gascony. Between the Pyrenees and the neighborhood of 
Bordeaux he met with little or no opposition ; but in a pitched 
battle at the confluence of the Garonne and the Dordogne, in May 
or June, 732, the Aquitanian army was routed, and all but total- 
ly destroyed. The capture and sack of Bordeaux followed ; and 
Eudes, reduced to extremity, hurried to the banks of the Loire, 
craved an interview with the Duke of the Franks, and conjured 
him to undertake the cause, not of Aquitaine alone, but of France 
and of Christian Europe. It was, in truth, no less an interest 
that was at stake. Charles received the fugitive with friendly 
welcome, but exacted of him, as the price of his assistance, an oath 
of allegiance, and an acknowledgment of the subjection of Aqui- 
taine to the Frankish monarchy. 

The army of the Saracens advanced from Bordeaux by the road 
leading to Poitiers, pillaging the churches, devastating the coun- 
try, and committing every sort of violence on their march. Be- 
tween Poitiers and Chatellerault they found tliemselves in pres- 
ence of the combined Frankish and Aquitanian forces, drawn up 
by Charles Martel in a favorable position at tlie junction of the 



54 CHARLES MARTEL, Chap. IV, 

rivers Clain and Vienne. Here the great question of supremacy 
between the Crescent and the Cross was to be finally determined. 
The rival hosts remained watching each other for six days. At 
length, on the 17th of October, 732, Abderrahman deployed his 
immense army in order of battle on the plain, and advanced to 
the attack. The first onslaught of the Saracens was tremendous ; 
but the stalwart forms of the Frank warriors, on their powerful 
German horses, sustained the shock without flinching, and the as- 
sailants, recoiling repeatedly as from a Avail of iron, encumbered 
the field with thousands of their dead. Suddenly shouts of dis- 
may arose from the rear of the Arabian lines ; the Aquitanians, 
led by Eudes, had turned the enemy's flank, assailed them in the 
rear, and were pillaging their camp. Numbers of the Saracen 
horsemen now abandoned their ranks, and flew to the rear, in 
hopes of saving their rich spoils ; their whole line wavered and 
lost coui'age ; Charles, with rapid intuition, seized on the moment, 
ordered a general advance, bore down all opposition, and his sol- 
diei's sabred the flying enemy in countless heaps, until darkness 
put an end to the slaughter. When daylight appeared, although 
the white tents of the Arabs remained in the same position, their 
army was no longer to be seen. All the survivors of that fatal 
rout had silently decamped under cover of the night, and were in 
rapid flight toward tlie south. The chroniclers, with their usual 
exaggeration, carry the loss of the Saracens in this great battle to 
the fabulous amount of three hundred thousand slain. The cause 
of Christianity in Europe won, at all events, a glorious and de- 
cisive triumph. Charles Martel — he won this title by having so 
vigorously hammered the misbelievers — followed up his success by 
several expeditions to the south ; but, though repeatedly victorious, 
was unable to expel the Saracens altogether from the soil of France. 
Septimania, their last refuge, was not finally wrested from them 
till 759, by Pepin le Bref 

§ 13. Charles Martel, after the example of his father, refrained 
from assuming the title of king ; yet, upon the death of Thierry 
IV. in 737, he felt his power so unassailably secure that he omitted 
to appoint a successor to the throne. The royal dignity remained 
ill abeyance; and France continued to be governed by Charles, 
who, under the designation of Duke of the Franks, had made him- 
self celebrated and feared throughout the world. Toward the 
close of his life a remarkable proof occurred of the extent of in- 
fluence he had acquired during his long administration. An urg- 
ent application was made to him by Pope Gregory III., entreat- 
ing him to take arms for the defense of the Catholic Church against 
.the Lombards, who, masters of all Northern Italy, had lately seized 
the Exarchate of Kavenna, and had threatened Rome itself. The 



A.D. 732-751, PEPIN LE BEEF. 55 

pontifical envoys presented to Charles the keys of St. Peter's tomb, 
together with a promise of investiture as Consul and Patrician of 
Rome. This was engaging, in other words, to place P>ance and 
its ruler at the head of the Western Empire. The Frank was 
evidently dazzled by the splendor of the prospect ; he dismissed 
the embassadors with a favorable answer, and appointed some of 
his most distinguished nobles to attend them on their return, and 
express his sentiments to Gregory. This was the first in a chain 
of transactions which brought about an important political change 
in the history of Europe. Had Charles lived longer, he would 
doubtless have made an armed descent upon Italy, and might 
have acquired the imperial diadem which fell to the lot of his 
grandson. But, whatever his visions of glory and distant do- 
minion, they were not destined to be realized : worn out prema- 
turely by the toils of a life spent in perpetual warfare, Charles 
Martel expired in 741, at Kiersy-sur-Oise, in the fifty-second year 
of his age. He divided his " principality" — that is, the Frank 
empire — between his sons Carloman and Pepin, assigning to the 
former Austrasia, with the territories beyond the Rhine ; while 
the latter received as his inheritance Neustria, Burgundy, and 
Provence. This arrangement was peaceably carried into effect. 

§ 14. Charles Martel had left the Merovingian throne unoccu- 
pied ; his sons sought out the last descendant of the house of 
Clovis, and pi'oclairaed him king- by the name of Childeric III. 
Their next endeavor was to effect a reformation in the Church, 
which, during the whole of their father's government, had remain- 
ed in a wretched state of disorganization. In this undertaking 
they were vigorously seconded by the illustrious Anglo-Saxon 
Winifrid, or St. Boniface, who about this time M'as consecrated 
Archbishop of Mayence. An arrangement was made with the 
clergy, by which the present holders of the confiscated church-es- 
tates were to retain them during life, under the title of "preca- 
ria," on condition of paying the dispossessed proprietor a rent- 
charge assessed upon the land according to its value. As the es- 
tates fell in by death, the princes reserved to themselves the right 
of redistributing them according to their own discretion and the 
necessities of the public service. This great boon to the priest- 
hood doubtless had its effect in again attaching them to the fami- 
ly and interests of Pepin ; and Pepin well knew that the good- 
will and co-operation of the Church were essential to his success 
in the project which he meditated — the deposition of the Mero- 
vingians, and transfer of their crown to himself and his posterity. 
The course of events favored this result. In 747 Carloman an- 
nounced his resolution to renounce the cares of state, and spend 
the rest of his days in ascetic seclusion. Having resigned the 



56 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. IV. 



government of Austrasia and the guardianship of his children into 
the hands of Pepin, he proceeded to Rome, received the clerical 
habit, and took tlie vows in the Benedictine monastery of Monte 
Cassino. 

In 751, having fully matured his plans, Pepin sent embassadors 
to Rome to propound the following question to the sovereign pon- 
tiff: whether the throne of the Merovingians could be considered 
as rightfully belonging to them in their present state of useless 
insignificance ; whether it did not belong more legitimately to 
him who exercised all the power and sustained all the responsi- 
bility of government. Pope Zacharias, who had doubtless been 
prepared for this inquiry, decided without hesitation that he who 
wielded the authority and fulfilled the duties of the kingly ofiice 
ought also to enjoy its titles, honors, and prerogatives. Fortified 
by this high spiritual sanction, Pepin convoked an assembly of 
bishops and nobles in March, 752, and caused himself to be pro- 
claimed King of the Franks, with all accustomed solemnities. St. 
Boniface anointed the new sovereign with the holy oil — a rite 
which was considered to invest Pepin and his descendants with a 
quasi-ecclesiastical and sacred character. Childeric Avas now 
formally deposed, tonsured, and immured in a convent at St. 
Omer, where he died in peace and scarcely noticed three years 
afterward. 

Such was the inglorious extinction of the first race of Prankish 
sovereigns, who had reigned for a period of 270 years from the 
accession of Clovis. A new dynasty succeeded, founded upon 
diflferent principles, and fraught with new elements of social, re- 
ligious, and political development. This line of princes, taking 
their designation from their renowned founder, Charles Martel, 
is known as that of the Carlovingians.* 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



A. ON THE MAYORS OF THE PALACE. 

These officers existed from a very early date 
among the Franks. The Major Domus was 
originally, as the name implies, the king's 
pi-incipal domestic, the master or comptroller 
of the household ; he superintended the in- 
terior concerns of the palace, and exercised a 
certain authority over the leudes or antrus- 
tions, the confidential companions and vassals 
of the king. It was his duty to maintain or- 
der ivlthin the precincts of the court, to de- 
cide disputes among the nobles, and to direct 
the general economy of the royal establish- 
ment. The appointment was of course vest- 



ed in the king, and held during his pleasure. 
Gradually, howevei-, and in consequence of 
jealousy which arose between the crown and 
the aristocracy, the Mayor of the Palace be- 
came the leader of the aristocratical iivction, 
and usurped political power ; and by success- 
ive encroacliments the office was at length 
wrested from tlie king, and became elective 
in the hands of the nobles. It is necessary, 
tlierefore, as Jlontesquieu obsei"ves, to make 
a wide distinction between the earlier and 
the later Mayors of the Palace, between the 
mayors of the king and tlie mayora of the 
kingdom)). .Pepin of I.anden, Pepin of Hcri- 
stal, Ebroin, Cliarles Martel, had scarcely 



* From Carlingen, sons of Charles; the name is more correctly written 
Carolingiaiis. 



ClIAP. IV. 



MEROVINGIAN HISTORY, 



57 



any tiling in common, beyond the title, with 
tlie mayors of Clovis and liis immediate suc- 
ce.-irfor.-?. In 5T5, upon the death of Sigliebert 
and accession of Childebert, a child of five 
years old, the Austrasian leudes assembled 
at Metz, and chose a mayor to protect the 
young king's person, supeiintend his educa- 
tion, and administer tlie government in his 
name. This became a precedent which was 
engerly quoted and imitated on otlier occa- 
sions ; tlie leudes boldly claimed the nomin- 
ation of the mayors as their right ; and al- 
though this was resisted on the part of the 
crown, especially by Brunchaut in Austrasia, 
they ended by establishing their usurpation. 
In 61.3, after the overthrow and death of 
Brunehaut, Warnachaire, mayor of Burgun- 
dy, who had been one of the chief conspira- 
tor.j against the queen, extorted a pledge 
from (Jlotaire II. that he should retain the 
dignity for life, an important step toivard in- 
dependence and virtual sovereignty. A like 
stipulation was exacted by Radon for the may- 
oralty of Austrasia, and by Gondebald for 
that of Xeustria. (Fredegarius, cap. 4'2.) A 
rival power was thus constituted in the state, 
tlie inevitable' tendency of which was to sup- 
plant and overturn tlie Merovingian dynas- 
ty. Clotaire struggled to shake off the yoke, 
but in vain; Warnachaire enjoyed his of- 
fice tiU his death, and the king then in- 
quired of the leudes assembled at Troyes 
which of their number they desired to name 
as his successor. In Austrasia matters were 
carried still farther. Clotaire was compelled 
to make his son Dagobert nominally king in 
that part of the empire, with Fepin of Landen 
as Mayor of the Palace. That nobleman, 
like Warnachaire, had taken a conspicuous 
part in the revolution which ruined Brune- 
haut. Possessed of immense domains and 
wealth, Pepin attempted to perpetuate the 
office of mayor, in which the whole govern- 
ment now centered, in his own familj'. The 
scheme failed for the moment, but succeeded 
in the end; Pepin's descendants retained 
the supreme power in its fullest extent, and 
eventually removed the Rois faineants and 
took possession of their throna 

Ji. de Sismondi conceives that the Mayor 
of the Palace was not originally an officer of 
the royal household, but a civil magistrate, a 



sort of tribune of the people, answering very 
much to the famous Junticia in the ancient 
constitution of Aragon. According to him, 
the German appellation was mord-doui^ 
which signifies a judge of 'murder^ or dooms- 
m.an. This derivation, however, is entirely 
rejected by Guizot, Michelet, and H. Martin. 

B. MEROVINGIAN HISTORY. 

Mr. Hallam {Middle. Ages^ i., p. 117) has 
distributed the history of these kings into 
the six following divisions, which the student 
will find useful in recollecting this intricate 
period : 

I. The reign of Clovis. 

II. Partition among his four sons, and their 
reigns, till the death of Clotaire I., the sur- 
vivor, in 561. Aggrandizement of the mon- 
archy. 

Hi! a second partition among the four 
sons of Clotaire I. The four kingdoms of (1) 
Paris, (2) Orleans, (3) Soissons, (4) Metz. Re- 
duced to three by the death of Caribert of 
Paris. Formation of the kingdom of Neus- 
tn'a^ including those of Paris and Soissons, 
and of Austrasia or that of Metz, the Meuse 
and the forest of Ardennes being the bounda- 
ries between them. The third kingdom to 
the south was now called Bu-rgundy. Power 
of the two queens, Fredegonde of Neustria, 
and Brunehaut of Austrasia. Brunehaut put 
to death by Clotaire II., king of Neustria, 
who unites the three Frank kingdoms, 613. 

IV. Reigns of Clotaire II. and his son Da- 
gobert I., 613-G3S. Dagobert was one of the 
most powerful, but also the last of the Mero- 
vingian kings worthy of the name. The Mois 
faineants follow. 

V. From the accession of Clovis II., son of 
Dagobert, to Pepin's victoi-y over the Neus- 
trians at Testry, 63S-6ST. The kings became 
the ptippets of the Mayors of the Palace. 
Great Power of Pepin d'Heristal in Austra- 
sia. His defeat of the Neustrians assures the 
preponderance of Teutonic over Roman Gaul. 

VI. From the battle of Testry to the coro- 
nation of Pepin the Short, C3S-T51. During 
this period Pepin d'Heristal, his son Charles 
Martel, and his grandson Pepin the Short, 
are the real sovereigns, though kings of tha 
royal house are still placed upon the throne. 




Sceptre of Dagobert, 



C2 



58 



GENEALOGY OF THE CARLOVINGIANS. 



Chap. V. 



Genealogical Table of the Caelovingians. 



Pepin of Landen, 

mayor of the palace in Austrasia 

(ob. 639). 



Grimoald 
(Ob. 656). 



Arnulf, 
brotlier of Pepin. 



AnsegMs. 



Pepin of Heiistal, 

d. of the Franks 

(ob. T14). 



Drogo, 
d. of Champagne. 



Grimoald, 
mayor in Neustria. 



Charles Martel 
(ob. 741). 



Carloman, 

becomes a monk 

(T47). 



Lothaire, 
emperor 
(ob. 855). 



Louis II., 
emperor 
(ob. 875). 



I 
Lothaire, 

k. of 
Lorraine 
(ob. 869). 



Pepin le Bref, 

k. of the Fi'anks 

(752). 

1 

Chaklemagot! 
(768-814). 

I 
Louis le Debonnaire 

(814-840). 



Grfpho 
(ob. 753). 



Charles, 

k. of 

Burgundy 

and 
Provence 
(ob. 863). 



Pepin 
(ob. 838). 



Pepin II., 

k. of 
Aquitaine. 



Louis the 
German 
(ob. 876). 



Charles 
the Fat, 

k. and 
emperor 
(ob. SSS). 



\ 

Charles the 

Bald, 

k. of France 

(ob. 877). 



Louis 
le B^gue 
(ob. 879). 



Louis III. 
(ob. 882). 



Carloman 
(ob. 8S4). 



Charles the Simple 
(ob. 929). 

I 

Louis IV. 

(d'Outremer) 

(ob. 954). 



Lothaire 
(ob. 986). 



Louis V. 
(ob. 987). 



Charles, 

d. of Lorraine 

(ob. 992). 






\-i . 



fl 







ft )\^1 T 




Pi'isentatiou of a B'.ble to (Jhurks the Bald. 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE CARLOVINGIANS. FROM THE ACCESSION OF PEPIN LE BREF TO THE 
TREATY OF VERDUN. A.D. 752-843. 

§ 1. Charactei" of the new Dynasty. § 2. Pepin succors Pope Stephen III. ; 
the "Donation of Pepin." § 3. Pepin's Wars in Septimania and Aqni- 
taine ; Death of Pepin le Bref. § 4. Charlemagne King of the Franks. 
§ 5. Conquest of the Lombards. § 6. Wars against the Saxons. § 7. In- 
vasion of Spain. § 8. Conquest of the Bavarians and the Huns. § 9. 
Charlemagne crowned Emperor at liome. § 10. Internal Government of 
Charlemagne; School of the Palace ; Alcuin. §11. Death and Charac- 
ter of Charlemagne. § 12. Accession of Louis I., le De'bonnaire. § 13. 
Revolt and Death of Bernhard, King of Italy ; Marriage of the Emperor 
to Judith of Bavaria; his Penance at Attigny. § 14. Rebellion of the 
three Princes ; Surrender of the Emperor. §15. Second Coalition against 
Louis ; the Field of Falsehood ; Deposition of Louis ; his second Restora- 



60 PEPIN LE BEEF. Chai-. V. 

tion. § 16. Distribution of the Empire; Death of Louis le Debonnaire. 
§ 17. Struggle between the Sons of Louis; Battle of Fontenay. § 18. 
General Pacification ; Ti'eaty of Verdun. 

§ 1. The elevation of Pepin to the throne was the result of a 
compact between himself and the Holy See, based on considera- 
tions of mutual interest. Pepin needed the sanction of the Pope 
to legitimatize his crown ; the pontiff needed the assistance of the 
Prankish arms, by which he was raised eventually to the position 
of a temporal and territorial sovereign. And this alliance be- 
tween the Carlo vingians and the papacy became a principle of re- 
generation and progress, not only for France, but for all Western 
Europe. The Austrasian mayors of the palace and the Eoman 
pontiffs, acting in concert at a propitious moment, brought about 
a revolution of vast importance to the cause of order, civilization, 
and social advancement. A strong monarchical government was 
now established, possessing the power to make itself universally 
respected ; while the papacy became at the same time a fixed pre- 
dominant authority for the regulation of the affairs of the Church. 

Two points are especially to be observed with regard to the 
character of 'the Carlovingian dynasty. First, that it was a Teu- 
toiiic power. Gallo-Roman France had sunk into decay; the 
fresh life-blood which was to resuscitate and restore it came from 
the banks of the Rhine. The Carlovingians were the heads of a 
victorious Trans-Khenane aristocracy ; it was only in this charac- 
ter that they were enabled to reconstruct the ruined monarchy, 
and effect ^n approach to territorial unity under a fixed central 
authority. "The Franks under Pepin and his successors," says 
M. Sismondi, " seemed to have conquered Gaul a second time ; it 
is a fresh invasion of the language, the military genius, and the 
manners of Germany, though represented by historians as simply 
the victory of the Austrasians over the Neustrians in a civil war."* 
Hence, under the second race of kings, France was effectually pro- 
tected from farther hostile irruptions from the side of Germany, . 
to which she had been constantly exposed ever since the barba- 
rians crossed the Rhine. The eastern frontier was henceforth 
secure; the flood of invasion was rolled back, and compelled to 
seek an outlet in a different direction. 

A second point to be noticed is the ecclesiastical character of 
this revolution. The elevation of Pepin Avas in great measure the 
work of the clergy ; and the monarch showed his gratitude by 
placing himself at the head of the national Church, and acting as 
its representative and champion. Pepin regarded himself as the 
"anointed of the Lord," after the pattern of the ancient kings of 

* Sismondi, Hist, des Fr., vol. ii., p. 170; Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. i., 
note viii. 



A.D. 752-755. HE SUCCORS THE POPE. 61 

Israel ; and hence the support and advancement of the Church 
became in his view the foremost of his kingly duties. The bishops 
of France were now regulai'ly summoned twice every year to at- 
tend the great council of the nation ; and th-e records of these 
meetings show that the pinncipal matters discussed were such as 
would naturally fall under the cognizance and control of church- 
men. Even the wars of Pepin had a religious aspect. The ex- 
press object of his German expeditions was to reduce the barba- 
rians into submission to the See of St. Peter. When he invaded 
Lombardy, he announced that he had taken up arms in the cause 
of God, St. Peter, and the Church. The labors of the missionaries 
among the pagans of Germany were under his direct patronage. 
He heaped privileges and endowments upon the clergy, and their 
influence soon became paramount in the internal administration 
of the kingdom. 

§ 2. Pepin was visited, two years after his accession, by Pope 
Stephen III., who came to claim the fidfillment of his promise to 
succor and defend the Roman See against its enemies. Astolpli, 
king of the Lombards, was thundering at the gates of Rome ; and 
the sole remaining hope for Italy lay in the nation of the Franks 
and its redoubted sovereign. Pepin pledged himself to cross the 
Alps Avith his army in the ensuing year ; he only asked in return 
that the Pope would renew his coronation with his own hands. 
The ceremony accordingly took place at St. Denis, Stephen invest- 
ing the king at the same time with the high-sounding title and 
undefined authority of Patrician of Rome. In the following year 
the army of the Franks scaled the Alps by the Mont Cenis, at- 
tacked and defeated the Lombards, besieged them in Pavia their 
capital, and compelled them to sue for peace. Pepin insisted on 
their giving up to the Pope the Exarchate of Ravenna and its- de- 
pendency the March of Ancona, and engaging never again to com- 
mit an act of hostility against the Apostolic See. But no sooner 
had the Franks withdrawn than the faithless Astolph violated the 
treaty, refused to resign the exarchate, and laid Avaste the country 
up to the gates of Rome. The terrified pontiff once more appeal- 
ed, in tones of impassioned agony, to his generous protector ; and 
Pepin, descending a second time into Italy in 755, finally dispos- 
sessed the Lombards of the whole teri'itory in dispute, which thus 
remained at the disposal of the conqueror. The Byzantine emperor 
demanded its restoration, as belonging to the Greek empire; but 
Pepin rejected the claim, and, sending one of his ministers to re- 
ceive the keys of the principal towns of the district, caused him 
to offer them at the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome, thus 
signifying that he surrendered his conquest to the holy apostles, 
and to the Roman pontift's, their lawful successors. 



62 PEPIN LE BREF. Chap. V. 

Such was the famous "Donation of Pepin," which became the 
foundation of the temporal sovereignty of the popes. It has been 
disputed whether Pepin transferred to the Holy See the absolute 
territorial dominion in these provinces, or only the enjoyment of 
the revenues derived from them. In either case the popes obtain- 
ed an important boon ; they were released from all dependence on 
the Eastern Empire ; they acquired a free voice in the concerns of 
Europe ; and they were placed in secure possession of the govern- 
ment of Rome, the ancient metropolis and mistress of the world. 

§ 3. Warlike enterprise in different directions filled up the en- 
tire reign of Pepin. For seven years he combated the Saracens in 
Septimania ; and after driving them in succession from all the 
great towns of the province, compelled them in 759 to surrender 
their capital, Narbonne. This brought the war to a close ; Sep- 
timania was evacuated by the Sai'acens, and this portion of the 
ancient kingdom of the Visigoths was finally annexed to the French 
crown. 

The reduction of Aquitaine, which followed, was a more arduous 
undertaking. Keen enmity had always prevailed between the 
Aquitanians and the Franks ; and the reigning Duke Guiafer, 
or Waifer, a descendant of the Merovingians, cherished a peculiar 
rancor against Pepin, whom he regarded as the oppressor and de- 
stroyer of his race. The war commenced in 760, and lasted eight 
years. The defense of Guiafer was obstinate, but at length he was 
forced to abandon all the northern part of his dominions, and re- 
tii'ed with a handful of devoted followers into the mountainous 
country south of the Dordogne. Here, deserted by his army, and 
hunted from covert to covert, he kept up a precarious resistance 
for some time longer ; but in 768 this unfortunate prince fell into 
an ambush laid for him by a party of his own treacherous sub- 
jects, who immediately put him to death. 

Guiafer was the last of his line ; and Aquitaine, which had more 
or less maintained its independence since its first occupation by 
the Visigoths in the reign of Honorius, was now incorporated into 
the Carlovingian empire. The population, however, retained in a 
great degree its ancient character; something of the genius and 
traditional impress of Rome lingered for centuries among the Aqui- 
tanians ; and they never lost their antipathy to the Franks, whom 
they despised as a race of barbarians. 

The career of Pepin le Bref closed with the conquest of Aqui- 
taine. On liis return from the south he was seized with a dan- 
gerous fever at Saintes ; after some time he was removed with 
difficulty to St. Denis ; and there, assembling his principal coun- 
selors, he divided his possessions, according to the immemorial 
usage of the Franks, between his sons Charles and Carloman. On 



A.D. 768-771. CHARLEMAGNE. 63 

the 24th of September, 7-68, Pepin breathed his last, in the fifty- 
fourth year of his age, having governed France eleven years as 
mayor of the palace, and nearly sixteen years as king. The fame 
of this great sovereign has suffered from his historical position ; it 
is eclipsed both by the military glory of his father, and by the im- 
perial grandeur of his son. Yet in constructive political genius 
Pepin was superior to the one, and probably little inferior to the 
other. His personal qualities vv^ould have insured him distinction 
in any age, and his reign is of peculiar importance in the history 
of France. It w^as his mind that conceived, and his hand that in- 
augurated the system w^hich his successor was to expand into ma- 
turity — a system which produced as its results most of the great 
characteristic features of mediaeval and feudal Europe. 

§ 4. The partition made by Pepin was not destined, fortunate- 
ly for the empire, to be of long duration. The elder brother, 
whom we shall henceforth call by his immortal name of Char- 
lemagne, had received as his portion Austrasia and the states 
beyond the Rhine ; Carloman had Alsace, Burgundy, and Pro- 
vence ; Neustria and the newly-conquered province of Aquitaine 
were divided nearly equally between them. The sovereigns were 
scarcely seated on their thrones when an occasion presented it- 
self which at once discovered the ascendency of the more power- 
ful over the feebler capacity. The Aquitanians broke out into re- 
volt ; Charlemagne and his brother marched toward the south, 
but before they reached the seat of war serious misunderstandings 
arose, and Carloman, stung with resentment, quitted the army 
and returned to his dominions. The King of Austrasia pursued 
his march, and in one vigorous campaign reduced the insurgents 
to submission. Not long afterward, in 771, Carloman died some- 
what suddenly at his palace near Laon. His Avidow, doubtless 
apprehensive of violence on the part of Charlemagne, left the 
country with her infant sons, and sought an asylum at the court 
of the King of Lombardy. Charlemagne forthwith repaired to 
Corbeny, on the confines of the two kingdoms, and there, in ac- 
cordance with the right claimed by the Germans of electing their 
own sovereign, he was raised by the suflfrage of the nobles and 
prelates to the throne of his deceased brother, thus happily unit- 
ing under his sole sceptre the whole of the immense empire of the 
Franks. 

§ 5. Charlemagne had no sooner taken possession of the mon- 
archy than he found himself involved in hostilities with the Lom- 
bards of northern Italy. He had contracted a matrimonial al- 
liance with Hermengarde, a Lombard princess, but had repudiated 
her within a year after the marriage, apparently from mere ca- 
price, and sent her back dishonored to her father. Didier, exas- 



G4 CHARLEMAGNE. Chai-. V. 

perated by this gross outrage, appealed to the Pope, Adrian I., to 
recognize the two young sons of Carloman as their father's lawful 
successors ; and upon the pontiff's refusal the Lombard army in- 
vaded the papal territory, seized several cities, and threatened 
Rome itself. In the autumn of 773 Adinan sent messengers in 
urgent haste to the King of the Franks to apprise him of his dan- 
ger and implore immediate succor. Charlemagne assembled his 
forces at Geneva, and crossed the Alps in two grand divisions — 
the first by the Valais and Mont Joux, the second by Savoy and 
the Mont Cenis. Checked for a moment by the enemy in their 
descent from the mountains, the Franks overpowered all resist- 
ance when once they had reached the plain. Didier fled to Pa- 
via ; his son Adalghis, Avith whom were the Avidow and children 
of Carloman, threw himself into Verona. Both cities were in- 
vested by the Franks, and both, after some months, surrendered 
at discretion. The Lombard king, with his wife and daughter, 
the widowed queen of Carloman and the orphan princes, all fell 
into the hands of the conqueror. Didier Avas sent captive to 
France, and confined first at Liege, afterAvard in the abbey of Cor- 
bey. The fate of the young princes is more doubtful, but it seems 
probable that they were likewise compelled to buiy themselves for 
life in the obscurity of the cloistei'. 

The unfortunate Didier was the last in the succession of Lom- 
bard monarchs, and their kingdom noAV became subject to Char- 
lemagne. He did not, however, incorporate it Avith his Transal- 
pine empire, but preserA^ed its distinct political existence, and the 
nationality of its people. He assumed the iron crown of Italy, 
and thenceforth entitled himself King of the Franks and the Lom- 
bards. 

It was during the siege of Pavia, toAvard Easter, 774, that Char- 
lemagne took the opportunity of paying his first visit to the pon- 
tifical court and the shrine of the apostles. " He Avent to Rome," 
says Eginhard, "to pray there ;" but there were political as Avell 
as devotional reasons for the pilgrimage. Adrian received him 
with distinguished honor in the portico of the basilica of St. Pe- 
ter ; and during this stay at Rome the foundations Avere doubtless 
laid of the vast monarchical system Avhich Charlemagne Avas des- 
tined to create in Western Europe, and in tlie establishment of 
Avhich he Avas so successfully aided by his alliance Avith successive 
occupants of the apostolic chair. He confirmed to the Pope the 
splendid donation of his father Pepin ; and even enlarged it, ac- 
cording to some accounts, by the addition of Istria, Corsica, and 
the duchies of Spoleto and Beneventum. Charlemagne's purpose 
seems to have been to make the Roman pontiflf his confidential 
lieutenant in administering his Italian dominions, Avhile he retain- 



A.D. 771-779. WARS AGAINST THE SAXONS. 65 

ed in his own hands the paramount authority. Although sin- 
cerely anxious to exalt the Church and the Holy See, he was not 
one to forego in the smallest degree that supreme domination to 
which his own ambition, talents, and success had raised him. 
The result was, that the temporal power of the popes became, 
under Charlemagne, greater in appearance than in reality. Os- 
tensibly, the Pope was the successor of the exarchs of Eavenna, 
the head of the Roman Commonwealth, and the ruler of the fair- 
est portion of Italy ; but in point of fact he was no more than 
one of the chief feudatories of the Prankish empire ; his relations 
to Chai'lemagne were rather those of a vassal to his suzerain than 
of an independent prince to his equal. 

§ 6- Four years after his accession Chai'lemagne commenced 
his memorable war against the Saxons — a people who, as long as 
they remained independent, were always more or less formidable 
along the German frontier of the empire. Divided into the three 
confederacies of Westphalians, Ostphalians, and Angarians, the 
Saxons occupied at this time the greater part of Northern Ger- 
many, from Bohemia to the Baltic and the Northern Ocean. Both 
Franks and Saxons were originally of the same stock ; but in 
proportion as the former had abandoned the ancient traditions of 
their race by embracing Christianity and adopting Roman civili- 
zation, they had incurred the mortal hatred of the latter, who 
clung obstinately to idolatry and the rude institutions of barbar- 
ism. It was in 772 that Charlemagne resolved on undertaking 
their complete subjugation ; and this remarkable struggle, one of 
the most prominent features of his reign, was protracted, with 
short intermissions, for not less than thirty-three years. 

In the first campaign the Franks captured Ehresburg, the 
strongest fortress of the Saxons, and destroyed their national idol 
Irmensul, a column or monument supposed to commemorate the 
fatal defeat of the Roman legions under Varus by the Teutonic 
chieftain Arminius or Hermann. The Saxons made a feigned 
submission ; but no sooner was Charlemagne occupied at a dis- 
tance than they revolted afresh, surprised the castle of Ehresburg, 
and drove the Frankish garrison across the border. A second cam- 
paign ensued in 775, Avith the same result as before. Two years 
later the Saxons once more took the field, under the command of 
a redoubtable chief name Witikind, and ravaged the whole coun- 
try bordering on the Rhine, from Cologne to Coblentz. Witikind 
became the hero of the Saxon resistance ; no reverse quelled his 
ardor or shook his resolution ; after each defeat he retreated into 
the forests and wilds of Scandinavia, from which he reappeared, 
after a few months, at the head of fresh masses of combatants 
burninjj to renew the conflict. The Saxons were routed with 



gg CHARLEMAGNE. Chap. V 

fearful slaughter at Eokholt, on the Lippe, in 779, after which 
Charlemagne traversed their entire territory to its western ex- 
tremity, receiving the submission of the inhabitants, and causing 
them to be baptized by thousands by the army of priests who ac- 
companied his march. But these conversions, as one of the chron- 
iclers observes, being made at the point of the sword, were of ne- 
cessity insincere. In truth, the policy of Charlemagne toward 
the Saxons is singularly characteristic both of the individual and 
of his age. To overcome this savage race of pagan borderers was 
a necessity of his empire ; and in his view there were but two 
methods of accomplishing this — either to exterminate them by 
the sword, or to impose on them a compulsory system of civiliza- 
tion — he offered them the alternative of baptism or extermination. 
It was a line of treatment more in accordance with the Koran 
than the Gospel ; and, indeed, the Frankish monarch may very 
possibly have been led to adopt it by the influence of that aston- 
ishing phenomenon of his times, the conquest of the Eastern world 
by the mei'ciless disciples of the prophet of Mecca. 

For three years the Saxons remained tranquil ; but at the voi^e 
of the indomitable Witikind a general insurrection burst forth, 
with tenfold fury, in 782. The recent converts repudiated their 
faith ; the priests and missionaries were either murdered or driven 
from the country ; and a large body of Frank troops was over- 
powered and completely cut to pieces. Charlemagne hurried to 
the scene of action, but the battle was lost before his arrival ; and 
Witikind, with his usual promptitude, had escaped for shelter into 
Denmark. Incensed beyond all bounds, the monarch wreaked his 
vengeance by an atrocious massacre of the helpless Saxons, who, 
bereft of their leaders, could no longer resist : they were seized 
and beheaded, to the appalling number of 4500, at Verden, on the 
banks of the Aller — a spot recently consecrated, among others, to 
be the residence of a Christian bishop and the centre of peaceful 
civilization. 

This ruthless butchery must remain indelibly a foul blot on the 
memory of Charlemagne. The Saxons were now driven to des- 
peration ; the whole nation flew to arms ; and for three years the 
land was deluged, from one end to the other, with the blood of this 
internecine struggle. Wearied out at length with carnage and 
the protracted fatigues of the contest, Charlemagne judged it ex- 
pedient, in the spring of 785, to make conciliatory proposals to 
the heroic Witikind. Pie assured him of the royal clemency, and 
even promised him rewards and honors, if he would lay down his 
arms, forsake his idols, and embrace Christianity. The vanquished 
warrior signified his acceptance of these overtures ; he crossed the 
Rhine with a safe-conduct ; and in June, 785, was baptized at 



A.D. 779-781. INVASION OF SPAIN. 67 

Attigny-sur-Aisne, in the presence of Charlemagne and his whole 
court. His example was followed by numbers of his companions 
in arips ; and the Saxons, submitting sullenly to necessity, remain- 
ed tranquil for the next eight years. 

§ 7. The energetic character of Charlemagne, and successive 
emergencies which arose in other quarters, left him no repose even 
in the intervals of this stubborn conflict. The Saracen governor 
of Saragossa appealed to him in 777 for aid in his strife with the 
Emir of Cordova, in return for which he promised to become trib- 
utary to the Frank empire. The summons was not unwelcome 
to Charlemagne : independently of motives of personal ambition 
and religious zeal, it was not less important to him to roll back 
the tide of Islamism from his southern frontier than to crush the 
inroads of paganism on the north and the east. Two armies were 
assembled in 778, one of which, commanded by the king in per- 
son, crossed the Pyrenees by St. Jean Pied-de-Port and Ronces- 
valles, and, gaining the valley of the Baztan, appeared before Pam- 
peluna. That city capitulated immediately ; and Charles, contin- 
uing his march, joined the other division of his army before Sara- 
gossa. From this point the details of the expedition are extremely 
obscure. The Emir of Saragossa seems to have proved faithless 
to his engagements, and the Franks were denied entrance to the 
capital of Aragon ; the surrounding population rose against them ; 
and Charlemagne, receiving at this moment intelligence that fresh 
hostilities were imminent in Saxony, resolved to negotiate. The 
Frank army agreed to evacuate the country ; Charlemagne stip- 
ulated for the payment of an immense sum in gold ; and, having 
received hostages from Saragossa and other towns, commenced 
his retreat. The passes of Navarre were at this time strongly 
occupied by the Basques, who, under their Duke Lupus, the son 
of Guiafer of Aquitaine, had lost none of their ancient enmity 
against the Franks and the Carlovingians. These warlike moun- 
taineers now leagued with some of the treacherous emirs of the 
Spanish border to intercept the retreating array in the narrow de- 
files, where a comparatively small force might easily throw them 
into confusion. The main body of the Franks descended safely 
into the valley of the Nive ; the rear-guard, encumbered with bag- 
gage and treasure, was less fortunate. As they wound slowly 
round the flanks of the Altobiscar mountain, which overhangs the 
pass of Roncesvalles, they were suddenly assailed by an avalanche 
of broken rocks, uprooted trees, and missiles of all kinds, from the 
wooded heights above ; numbers of the soldiers were crushed to 
death or hurled down the precipices ; and, in the midst of the 
panic which ensued, the Basques rushed from their concealment, 
attacked the devoted band in front and rear at once, and com- 



68 CHARLEMAGNE. Chap. V. 

pleted their overthrow ; they were cut off to a single man. Here 
perished, among many other chieftains of note, the Paladin Eo- 
land, briefly described by Eginhard as "prefect of the marclies of 
Brittany," but of whom we find no farther mention in the pages 
of authentic history. His popular fame rests on the traditional 
legends preserved by romance-writers and Troubadours, imitated 
and embellished by poets of more modern date. 

Charlemagne never returned to Spain after the catastrophe of 
Roncesvalles. Both Basques and Saracens continued during 
many years to harass his southern frontier ; and it was in order 
to consolidate his dominions in this quarter that he constituted, in 
781, the kingdom of Aquitaine in favor of his infant son Louis, 
who afterward succeeded him as Louis le Debonnaire. The 
famous Count William " au Court-nez," who was named chief 
minister to the young prince, conducted several successful expe- 
ditions beyond the Pyrenees ; and by the close of the century the 
authority of the Franks was firmly established through nearly the 
whole of Catalonia and Aragon. The subject territory became a 
dependency of the crown of Aquitaine, under the title of the 
mai'ches of Spain. It comprised the march of Gothia and the 
march of Gascony, of which the capitals were respectively Barce- 
lona and Pampeluna. Both provinces extended to the Ebro. 

§ 8. We should be widely transgressing our pi'oper limits were 
we to enter on a full account of the many conflicts of Charle- 
magne with the various independent races which bordered on his 
empire. A strong confederacy formed by the Bavarians, under 
their Duke Tassilo, was overthrown in 788 ; Tassilo threw him- 
self on the mercy of his conqueror, Avas tonsured, and confined for 
life in the monastery of Jumieges ; and the hereditary ducal line 
of Bavaria being thus extinguished, the sovereignty of that coun- 
try devolved on Charlemagne. Another extensive province was 
thus annexed, Avithout striking a blow, to his empire. This con- 
quest was almost immediately followed by the subjugation of the 
kingdom of the Avars, the descendants of those dreaded Huns 
Avho had desolated Europe in the fifth century. The Avars had 
taken part in the machinations of Tassilo, but had been forced 
back into their forests and morasses in Pannonia. They Avere 
now in dangerous proximity to the Bavarian frontier, and Chai'le- 
magne resolved upon their conquest. In 791 he invaded their 
country with an overwhelming force in three great divisions. In 
the first campaign the Franks carried by assault the outermost 
of a series of immense circular intrenchments called "rings," 
Avhich protected the royal residence of the Avars, and, after cap- 
turing a multitude of prisoners and a rich booty, made themselves 
masters of Avestern Pannonia. In 796, Pepin, king of Italy, at 



MAP OF THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 




The double dotted line ::::::::::: marka the bouudaries of Charlemagne's empire. 



70 CHAKLEMAGNE. Chap. V. 

the head of a vast combined force of Franks, Lombards, Bava- 
rians, and other Germans, stormed in succession all the remain- 
ing fortifications of the Huns, penetrated to the palace of their 
hhacan, pillaged and burnt it, and compelled the whole nation, 
thinned by terrible slaughter, to submit at discretion. In their 
last strong-hold the Huns had accumulated a prodigious treasure, 
acquired by their repeated plunder both of the Eastern and West- 
ern empires : the whole, fabulous in value, was now appropriated 
by the Franks. The Avar chieftain Thudan, and his principal 
followers, consented to embrace the Gospel, and were baptized at 
Aix-la-Chapelle. 

§ 9. The sphere of Charlemagne's dominion, when it had reach- 
ed its widest development, comprehended at least half the Euro- 
pean continent, and all the richer and more important teiTitories 
of the ancient Eoman empire. His sceptre was obeyed from the 
shores of the Baltic to the Ebro — from the Atlantic to the Low- 
er Danube, the Theiss, and the mountains of Moravia — from the 
German Ocean to the Adriatic and the Garigliano in Central 
Italy. His authority was respected, his ascendency feared, his 
friendship highly prized, by those remoter states which maintain- 
ed their independence — by the Saracens of Spain, the Saxons of 
Britain, the Lombard dukes of Benevento, the Italians of Magna 
Grsecia, the Byzantine empire of the East, and even by the ca- 
liphs of Bagdad. No such concentration of power had been wit- 
nessed since the days of Theodosius the Great ; and it is not sur- 
prising that, in the pride of such transcendent success, the mind 
of Charlemagne recurred to the glorious empire which his bai'ba- 
rian fathers had subverted, and aspired to revive the majestic au- 
tocracy of the Ca3sars. This splendid vision once seriously enter- 
tained, the conqueror would easily perceive that the means of 
realizing it lay in his own hands. His father Pepin had acquired 
his throne in virtue of a solemn act of consecration by St. Peter's 
successor. The Holy See was not less deeply indebted to Char- 
lemagne than it had been to Pepin ; and the personal situation of 
Leo III., who then occupied the papal chair, was such as to ren- 
der him tamely subservient to the views and wishes of his royal 
patron. In an interview with Leo at Paderborn the arrange- 
ments were discussed and concluded which the interests of the 
pontiff and the ambitious policy of Charlemagne concurred to dic- 
tate. In November of the year a.d. 800 Charlemagne proceeded 
with a magnificent retinue to Rome, and on the feast of Christ- 
mas attended the service of the Church in St. Peter's. As he 
knelt in devotion befoi'e the high altar, the Pope advanced toward 
him and placed an imperial crown upon his head ; the whole ca- 
thedral resounded at tlie same instant with the acclamations of 



A.D. 800-802. CROWNED EMPEROR. 71 

the multitude, " Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, crown- 
ed by God, the great, pious, and pacific Emperor of the Romans !" 
After this the Pope performed the ancient ceremony of adoration 
or homage, and anointed the emperor with the holy oil, together 
with his son Pepin, king of Italy. 

Eginhard affirms that this transaction was wholly unexpected 
by Charlemagne, and so contrary to his inclination, that, had he 
been aware of the Pope's intention, he would have carefully ab- 
sented himself from the church. It is not credible, however, that 
the Pope, in his dependent circumstances, would have ventured 
on such a proceeding without the full sanction, expressed or im- 
plied, of the potent monarch to whom he was bound by such 
weighty obligations. 

Although the elevation of Charlemagne to the imperial throne 
added nothing to his territorial dominion, it must be regarded as 
an event of vast significance and importance. It was the climax, 
the consummation of the conquest of Pome by the barbarians. 
The empire of the "West now passed visibly and formally into the 
hands of the Franks. They were in possession of all. the great 
centres of the by-gone Roman rule — Rome, Ravenna, Milan, Ly- 
ons, Treves ; and the assumption by the head of their dynasty of 
the imperial purple and the title of Augustus completed and rati- 
fied their triumph. Moreover, the coronation of a Teutonic- 
prince at Rome was an act of reconciliation and union between 
the victorious and the vanquished race. Rome and her conquer- 
ors were now incorporated into one great Christian monarchy 5 
and although the new empire differed widely and essentially from 
that whose name it inherited, it acquired from that very name a 
vast accession of authority, and offered to Europe a guarantee of 
stability — political, social, and religious — such as had not been 
enjoyed for many centui'ies.* 

The only thing now wanting to the restoration of the Roman 
empire in its full integrity was the union of the throne of the 
Franks with that of Constantinople. We are told that a project 
w^as set on foot, soon after the coronation of Charlemagne, for ef- 
fecting this by a marriage between himself and the Empress Irene, 
who had obtained the Byzantine sceptre by the unnatural depo- 
sition of her son Constantine V. The scheme is variously attrib- 
uted to Charlemagne, to the empress, and to Pope Leo. It was 
for some time steadily pursued, and the preliminaries were actual- 
ly arranged ; but the negotiation was cut short by a sudden revo- 
lution at Constantinople, which in the year 802 precipitated Irene 
from the throne. Her successor, Nicephorus Logothetes, hasten- 
ed to conclude a treaty of peace Avith Chai'lemagne, by which the 
* See Notes and Illustrations. 



72 CHARLEMAGNE. Chap. V. 

limits of the two empires, remaining distinct and independent, were 
finally determined. By this compact Nicephorus recognized Char- 
lemagne in due form as Emperor of the West. 

§ 10. The fourteen years of Charlemagne's reign as emperor 
were not marked by any great warlike undertaking or external 
conquest. He was mainly occupied with the internal organiza- 
tion of the empire, a task of almost superhuman difficulty, consid- 
ering the number and dissimilarity of the races subject to his rale. 
Charlemagne's system of civil government will perpetuate his 
fame more surely than his most brilliant victories. It deserves 
to be closely examined, but a cursory sketch of its main features 
must here suffice. 

The government of Charlemagne was an absolute monarchy, 
disguised under aristocratical, and even, to some extent, popular 
forms and institutions. The initiative of all laws resided with 
the empei'or, but his propositions were submitted to the great 
council of the nation, Avhere they underwent full discussion, and 
were afterward promulgated in the joint names of the sovereign 
and the people under the title of Capitularies. These national as- 
semblies* met twice every year, in spring and autumn, and were 
composed of the great officers of the crown, the chief nobles, the 
bishops and abbots, the counts or provincial governors, together 
with their subordinate functionaries. Sixty-five of the capitula- 
ries of Charlemagne remain to us. They are of a most miscella- 
neous character, embracing every conceivable topic of legislation, 
from matters of the highest moral, ecclesiastical, and political im- 
portance, down to minute details of domestic economy, t They 
constitute, not a regular code of laws, but an unconnected mass 
of records exhibiting all the public acts of the emperor's adminis- 
tration in its manifold branches and departments. 

The executive power was lodged chiefly in the hands of the 
counts, who, with the assistance of their deputies (vicarii, centena- 
rii, scabini), dispensed justice in their several districts ; but, besides 
these, Charlemagne appointed an order of superior judges called 
77i{ssi dominici, or royal envoys, whose duty it was to revise the 
proceedings of the local tribunals, and exercise a general jurisdic- 
tion in the last resort. These officers were in direct communica- 
tion with the emperor ; they kept him accurately informed of the 
condition and wants of the people, and formed one of the most ef- 
ficient organs of the central government. Two missi dominici, 

* An intei-esting account of these councils has come down to us in a treat- 
ise De Ordine Palatii, written by Adelbard, abbot of Corbey, one of Charle- 
magne's principal advisers, and preserved by Hincmar. It is largely quoted 
by Guizot, J^ssais, p. 276. 

t See the capitulary De \lflis, regulating the management of the imperial 
residences and domains. 



A.D. 802-814. SCHOOL OF THE PALACE— ALCUIN. 73 

usually a bishop and a lay nobleman, were bound to make the cir- 
cuit of their provinces four times in every year, and to report the 
result to the sovereign. 

But perhaps the noblest monument of Charlemagne's genius is 
the revival of letters and extensive diffusion of knowledge which 
marked his reign, and which resulted mainly from his own enlight- 
ened and enthusiastic labors. Charlemagne was an indefatigable 
student ; and the impulse of his personal example, patronage, and 
superintendence produced effects which, considering the circum- 
stances of the times, are truly Avonderful, and redound to his eter- 
nal honor. History presents to us few more striking spectacles 
than that of the great monarch of the West, surrounded by the 
princes and princesses of his family and the chief personages of 
his brilliant court, all content to sit as learners at the feet of their 
Anglo-Saxon preceptor Alcuin in the " school of the palace" at 
Aix-la-Chapelle. The course of study pursued by these august 
academicians embraced the seven liberal arts, as they were called 
— the triviian and quadrivium — with a special attention to gram- 
mar, psalmody, and the theory of music ; and since Alcuin excel- 
led in the exposition of Scripture, Ave maybe sure that the myste- 
ries of theological science were not forgotten in his lectures. 

The " school of the palace" was designed to be the model of 
similar institutions throughout the empire. By a circular letter 
to the bishops in 789, the emperor required them to establish ele- 
mentary schools in their cathedral cities for the gratuitous instruc- 
tion of the children of fi'eemen and of the laboring classes, while 
schools of a superior grade were to be opened at the same time in 
the larger monasteries, for the study of the Iiigher bi'anches of 
learning. Accordingly, the next few years witnessed the founda- 
tion of numerous seminaries in different parts of France and Ger- 
many, which afterward produced important and lasting fruits. 
The most eminent were those of Tours, Metz, Fontenelle in Nor- 
mandy, Ferrieres near Montargis, Fulda near Wurtzburg, and 
Aniane in Languedoc. A sufficient supply of teachers for these 
schools was not to be obtained in France, where literature had 
declined to the lowest point, and Avas almost extinct : the emperor 
therefore spared no exertion to attract to his court men of intel- 
ligence, ability, and learned acquirements from every part of Eu- 
rope. 

The main instrument of this intellectual reformation was Al- 
cuin, by far the most commanding genius of his age. Alcuin was. 
a native of York, and a deacon. of the cathedral there. He was 
presented to Charlemagne at Parma in 781, on his return from a 
mission to Rome, and Avas persuaded by the emperor, in the fol- 
lowing year, to take up his permanent residence in France. He 

D 



74 CHARLEMAGNE. Chap. V. 

was placed immediately at the head of the imperial academy, and 
for fourteen years led a life of unremitting labor as a public in- 
structor. In addition to his services in the schools, Alcuin ap- 
plied himself to the important work of revising and restoring the 
manuscripts of antiquity, both sacred and profane. He produced 
a corrected edition of all the inspired books of the Old and New 
Testaments, copies of which were multiplied by the monks under 
his directions, so that all the principal churches and abbeys were 
furnished with accurate transcripts of the sacred text. Alcuin 
was also much consulted upon points of controversial theology, 
and was one of the chief authorities at the famous council of 
Frankfort in 794, where the "Western Church pi'onounced its 
judgment on the much-vexed question of image-worship. His 
extant letters to Charlemagne show the vast variety of subjects 
discussed during their intercourse, and give evidence of extraor- 
dinary activity and vei'satility of mind. Alcuin at length obtain- 
ed permission from the emperor to retire to his abbey of St. Martin 
at Tours : he there spent the closing years of his life in peaceful 
yet profound study, and died at Tours at the age of seventy, in 
May, 804. 

§ 11. In his declining years the great emperor withdrew him- 
self as much as possible frem the active labors and anxieties of 
government, in order to devote his time to literary study and de- 
votional exercises. By his first testamentary arrangements, made 
in 806, the empire was divided among his three sons. Charles, 
the eldest, was to reign over Neustria and Austrasia, Saxony, and 
the other provinces of Germany ; Pepin was confirmed in the 
kingdom of Italy ; Louis received Aquitaine, Burgundy, Provence, 
and the Spanish Marches. But within the next few years the 
hand of death was busy in the imperial family : the Princess Eo- 
truda, the Princes Pepin and Charles, were carried off in rapid 
succession, to the deep grief of their aged parent ; and it became 
necessary to settle the inheritance afresh. In 813 Charlemagne 
convoked a full assembly of prelates and nobles at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
and designated his surviving son, Louis of Aquitaine, as his asso- 
ciate in the empire, and the sole heir of his splendid throne. This 
was the last political act of the reign of Chai'lemagne. On his 
return, some months afterward, from a hunting expedition in the 
Ardennes, the emperor was attacked by acute pleurisy, which 
brought him to his end on the 28th of January, 814, in the seventy- 
second year of his age and forty-seventh of his reign. He was 
occupied, we are told, within a few days of his death, in correct- 
ing, with his own hand, the Latin version of the Gospels, which 
he collated with the Syriac translation and the original Greek. 
His last words were, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my 



A.D. 814-816. LOUIS LE DEBOl!?NAIRE. , 75 

spirit," His remains were interred in the cathedral which he 
had himself founded at Aix-la-Chapelle — his usual residence and 
the capital of his empire. 

In person Charlemagne was above the middle height, finely and 
powerfully formed, and of a majestic presence. He was remark- 
able for his easy and graceful elocution, which enabled him to dis- 
course with clearness and precision, and with peculiar exuberance 
of diction, upon all subjects. He spoke the Latin tongue with 
fluency and elegance, and perfectly understood the Greek. He 
was a considerable proficient in the sciences of logic, rhetoric, 
astronomy, and music ; and was well read in theology, especially 
in the writings of St. Augustine. He took an active part in the 
great religious controversies of his time, those on the heresy of 
the Adoptians and on the question of image-worship ; and the 
"Caroline Books" (an elaborate exposition of the doctrine and 
discipline of the Western Church upon the latter subject) were, 
if not composed by the emperor, at least drawn up under his im- 
mediate supervision. 

In estimating the general character and merits of Charlemagne, 
v/e must bear in mind the complexion of the times in which he 
lived. Judged by this standard, it is no exaggeration to say that 
in habitual elevation of aim and purpose, in steadfastness and con- 
sistency of policy, in enlarged views of his responsibilities as a 
ruler, in persevering exertions for the advancement and welfare of 
his subjects, and in the private virtues of generosity and charity, 
Charlemagne was fully equal to any of those sovereigns to whom 
history awards the name of Great, if he did not surpass them all. 
His two great faults were his religious intolerance, which carried 
him into the most sanguinar'y excesses of inhuman cruelty, and 
his laxity of personal morals. These, however, were precisely the 
failings which the gross and semi-barbarous society of that day 
either encouraged and applauded, or excused and ignored. 

§ 12. Louis I., surnamed by his contemporaries the Pious, but 
by modern historians Le Debonnaire, or the Good-natured, ascend- 
ed the throne of the Franks in the thirty-sixth year of his age. 
He was a prince of an excellent natural disposition, had received 
a good education, and had administered the kingdom of Aquitaine 
with considerable credit to himself and advantage to his people. 
His piety was deep and sincere, but it was piety which fitted him 
rather for the cloister than for his position as a sovereign and for 
the active duties of life ; he was of a reserved, melancholy, super- 
stitious temper ; and his better qualities were obscured and neu-< 
;y:alized by an incurable weakness of character. His first acts, 
howevei', were praiseworthy. He reformed Avith an unsparing 
hand the licentious manners of the court, which, through the in- 



76 ' LOUIS LE DEBONNAIRE. Chap. V 

dulgence of his father, had grown into a public scandal. The 
princesses his sisters, whose conduct had been notoriously dis- 
creditable, were the first examples of his severity: they were re- 
moved from the palace, and immured in separate convents. Sever- 
al persons of high rank were at the same time disgraced and banish- 
ed : among them Adalhard, abbot of Corbey, and his brother the 
Count Wala, who was compelled to enter a monastery. The 
emperor next proceeded to a searching reform of abuses in the 
Church ; he insisted on the residence of the bishops in their dio- 
ceses ; and caused the condition of the monasteries to be fully in- 
vestigated by Benedict, abbot of Aniane, who re-established the 
ancient discipline in all its rigor. But these vigorous measures 
were soon succeeded by others which betrayed a feeble nature, ill 
calculated to command the submission and maintain the integrity 
of the gigantic empire created by the great Charles. Charlemagne 
had established the right of the Western emperoi'S to confirm the 
election of the popes, thus giving them virtually a veto on the 
nomination. Stephen IV., on succeeding Leo III. in 816, took 
possession of the apostolic chair without making any application 
for the imperial sanction ; and Louis, by allowing the omission to 
pass without remonstrance, tacitly abandoned his prerogative. 
The Pope, on the other hand, showed himself jealously and tena- 
ciously mindful of the privileges of his see. He proceeded to 
France ; and, with all the circumstances of a grand and solemn 
ceremonial, placed the crown upon the head of Louis at Eeims, 
proclaiming to the world by this act that the imperial dignity was 
only to be derived through the personal ministry of the Eoman 
pontiff, and could not be transmitted by hereditary descent. 

In the following year Louis Avas induced to take a step which, 
instead of confirming his power, as he intended, proved the source 
of all the troubles and humiliations of his reign. A general de- 
sire having been manifested for a settlement of the succession in 
case of his death, the emperor convoked a diet at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
and appointed his eldest son Lothaire his associate in the empire, 
with the reversion to the sovereignty of France and Italy ; Pepin, 
the second son, was named at the same time heir to the throne of 
Aquitaine ; and Louis, the youngest, to that of Germany. This 
Avas, in several points of view, a rash, ill-considered, and impolitic 
arrangement. The young princes, instead of combining to sup- 
port their father's authority, were excited to disaffection, jealousy, 
and discord ; they became the chiefs of rival factions ; and their 
contentions, fomented by the nobility for their own purposes, re- 
sulted in the destruction of the great work so ably commenced b^ 
Charlemagne, the dismemberment of his empire, and the introduc- 
tion of a new phase of society throughout Europe. 



A.D. 816-823. MARRIES JUDITH OF BAVARIA. 77 

§ 13. The first example of revolt was given by Bernliard, king 
of Italy, son and successor of Pepin, elder brother of the emperor. 
Bernhard had been confirmed in his throne, notwithstanding his 
illeoitimate birth, by Charlemagne himself; and he was now be- 
yond measure mortified and incensed to find himself altogether 
passed over in the partition of the empire, and even indirectly 
threatened with deposition, by the assignment of the crown of 
Italy to Lothaire. Assembling in arms the feudal lords of Lom- 
bai'dy with their forces, the King of Italy took the field in 818, 
and advanced toward the passes of the Alps. Louis marched 
against him ; and the inconstant Italians, on the first news of the 
approach of the imperial ai'my, were seized with panic, and aban- 
doned their unfortunate leader, whose enterprise thus fell sudden- 
ly to the ground. At the suggestion of the Empress Hermen- 
garde, who promised her mediation in his favor, Bernhard now 
threw himself upon his uncle's mercy, and came voluntarily to 
implore his pardon at Chalons-sur-Saone. He was nevertheless 
arraigned, together with his principal partisans, before the assem- 
bly of the Franks, and sentence of death was pronounced against 
■ them all. Louis commuted the penalty, in the case of his nephew, 
into perpetual imprisonment, with the loss of sight — the latter 
punishment being added, it is said, through the treacherous ani- 
mosity of the empress. The unhappy youth struggled desperate- 
ly with the executioners, one of whom was killed before they could 
accomplish their cruel errand ; and whether from the extremity 
of torture, or from the effects of farther secret violence, the prince 
died on the third day after the infliction. His friends were either 
banished, imprisoned, or forced to become monks ; and, as a meas- 
ui'e of precaution against future disturbance, three younger broth- 
ers of the emperor, natural sons of Charlemagne, were at the same 
time compelled to accept the tonsure. 

The tragical fate of Bernhard plunged Louis into deep remorse ; 
and upon the death of Hermengarde in 819, he recurred seriously 
to a design which he seems to have entertained several times be- 
fore, of abdicating his throne, abandoning the world, and taking 
refuge, like his uncle Carloman, in monastic seclusion. His court- 
iers and ministers, alarmed at the possible consequences of such a 
step, labored to give a new direction to his thoughts, and urged 
him to contract a second marriage. The easy-tempered monarch 
allowed himself to be persuaded, and from among the crowd of 
high-born beauties who vied with each other for his preference he 
selected Judith, the daughter of Welph or Guelph, count of Bava- 
ria. This marriage took place in 820 ; and the new empress, who 
is described by writers of the time as distinguished not only by 
great personal attractions, but by her mental cultivation and vari- 
ous accomplishments, rapidly acquired an unbounded ase^dency 



78 LOUIS LE DEBONNAIRE. Chap. V. 

over her feeble-minded husband. The wounded spirit of the em- 
peror, however, gave liim no rest ; and in the excess of his grief 
he was driven to seek relief by a public act of humiliation and 
atonement for his errors. Kneeling before the assembled bishops 
at Attigny, he accused himself, with bitter compunction, of the 
murder of his nephew, and submitted to canonical penance for the 
crime, as well as for his severities to Adalhard and Wala, and the 
three princes his brothers. The ecclesiastics professed to behold 
in this sti-ange scene a parallel to the famous penitence of the 
great Theodosius ; but it was viewed in a very different light by 
his subjects at large. They deemed it an ignominious degrada- 
tion of the imperial dignity ; an insult to the states of the realm, 
by whom the offenders had been tried and justly condemned; and 
a glaring proof of incapacity for his functions in the nominal ruler 
of such a mighty empire. Henceforth Louis was treated with 
scarcely disguised contempt: all parties and classes hastened to 
take advantage of his weakness ; and the remainder of his reign is 
little else than a record of ceaseless confusion, disgrace, and misery. 
§ 14. Three years after her marriage (June 13, 823) the Em- 
press Judith gave birth to a son, who received the name of 
Charles, and is known in subsequent history as Charles the Bald. 
This infant became at once an object of suspicion and disquietude 
to the three elder princes, and their misgivings were fully justified 
by the event. Judith naturally exerted all her influence to pro- 
cure for her son a royal appanage, which could only be obtained 
by an open violation of the act of settlement of 817. Louis, un- 
able to resist her persuasions, created, in favor of Charles, a king- 
dom consisting of Allemannia, Transjurane Burgundy, Rhastia, and 
Alsace. These pi'ovinces formed part of the inheritance of Lo- 
thaire, who was Avon over by the blandishments of Judith to ac- 
quiesce in his own spoliation. Quickly repenting, however, of his 
weakness, Lothaii'e conspired with his brothers Pepin and Louis 
in opposition to their father's government ; and a struggle com- 
menced between the court and the princes which terminated only 
with the life of Louis. The chief adviser of the emperor at this 
time was Bernhard, duke of Septimania, the son of his former 
viceroy, William of Toulouse. Bernhard Avas a man of ambitious, 
overbearing, intriguing disj^osition ; he stood high in the confi- 
dence of the empress, with Avhom, indeed, he Avas supposed to be 
on terms of undue familiarity ; and through this imputation, add- 
ed to his oppressive administration, he had become an object of 
general hatred. The rebellion against Louis blazed forth in the 
spring of 830. The army had been summoned for an expedition 
into Brittany : instead of assembling at the time appointed under 
the imperial standard, the troops deserted in masses and joined 
the faction of the princes, Avho had established their camp at Ver- 



A.D. 823-833. COALITION AGAINST HIM. 79 

berie. The insurrection spread with extraordinary rapidity, and 
the emperor soon found himself reduced to helpless isolation. He 
surrendered to his sons at Compiegne, and accepted all their de- 
mands. Bernhard was instantly banished into Septimania ; his 
relations and adherents were deprived of their offices, and punish- 
ed with more or less severity ; the empress was compelled to take 
the veil in the convent of Ste. Radegonde at Poitiers ; the boy- 
king Charles was stripped of his appanage and committed to strict 
confinement. As for the emperor, it was for some time seriously 
debated whether he should be deposed and imprisoned for life in 
.a monastery; but the princes could not as yet reconcile them- 
selves to such outrageous measures against their parent ; Louis 
was suffered to retain the imperial title, and nominally to direct 
the government, but the real sovereignty passed into the hands of 
the young Emperor Lothaire. 

§ 15. The administration of such an empire, under such diffi- 
culties, was, however, a task beyond the powers of Lothaire ; and 
his triumph was of short duration. In the course of the next 
year (831) dissensions arose among the three brothers ; and Pepin 
and Louis, detaching themselves from the cause of Lothaire, com- 
bined with their father's friends to procure his restoration to au- 
thority. A sudden reaction followed in favor of Louis ; and at 
the diet held at Nimeguen, the German provinces expressed so 
strongly their feelings of loyalty to the rightful sovereign that the 
partisans of Lothaire at once gave way, and Louis was fully rein- 
stated on his throne. In order to calm the popular agitation, the 
emperor pardoned his rebellious son, and they appeared together 
on cordial terms in public. In other respects affairs now took 
the turn that might have been expected. The empress was re- 
leased from her cloister, and reappeared at court, under a dispen- 
sation from her vows granted by the Pope ; her own affirmation 
was admitted as a satisfactory guarantee of her innocence ; and 
Duke Bernhard, suddenly making his appearance before the na- 
tional council at Thionville, offered the wager of battle to any 
one who should dare repeat the calumnies which had assailed his 
character. No one responded to the challenge, and Bernhard was 
adjudged to be guiltless of the ^rime imputed to him. Lothaire 
forfeited the imperial title, and retained the crown of Italy only, 
to which he had succeeded on the death of his cousin ; the three 
brothers were dismissed to their respective dominions. Louis re- 
signed himself once more to the absolute government of his wife. 
Bernhard was replaced as confidential minister by the monk Gund- 
bald, who had been the principal instrument of the emperor's res- 
toration. 

The disgraced favorite now plotted eagerly for revenge ; he al- 
lied himself with Pepin of Aquitaine, and a fresh revolt was ar- 



80 LOUIS LE DEBONNAIRlv Chap. V. 

ranged between them, with the concurrence of Louis the German, 
in 832. This project, however, entirely failed of success; Louis 
found himself unsupported, made his submission to the emperoi-, 
and obtained an easy pardon. Pepin was not treated with the 
same indulgence ; he was arrested and sent prisoner to Treves, to- 
gether with his wife and children ; his kingdom of Aquitaine was 
declared forfeited, and was bestowed upon the youthful Charles. 
Count Bernhard was deprived of his government of Septimania, 
and of all his other honors. But both the clemency and the se- 
verity of the feeble Louis were alike unfortunate and ineffectual. 
The national discontent with his government gained ground con- 
tinually ; and in 833 the princes once more coalesced against their 
father, and took the field with the avowed purpose of compelling 
him to abdicate the throne. The Pope of the day, Gregory IV., 
was induced to give his sanction to the rebellion ; he crossed the 
Alps, and appeared publicly in the camp of Lothaire, demanding 
from the emperor the fulfillment of the constitution of 817, which 
had been guaranteed by the Holy See. Louis advanced with his 
forces, and the two armies approached each other, on the 24th of 
June, in the plain called Rothfeld, between Colmar and Bale. An 
extraordinary scene now followed. All expected an immediate 
engagement ; but the Pope, resolving to make a last effort to pre- 
vent bloodshsd, sought an intev\ijw with the emperor, and labor- 
ed earnestly to bring about an accommodation. The negotiation 
was still pending, when, in the course of a single night, all the prin- 
cipal barons of Louis's party silently quitted liis camp with their 
troops, and deserted to the opposite lines. The defection became 
general ; in the space of two or three days the Empress Judith, with 
her son Charles, a few bishops and counts, with a mere handful 
of vassals, were all that adhered to the cause of the unfortunate 
monarch. From this shameful transaction the spot received, and 
retained for ages, the title of Liigenfeld, or the Field of Falsehood. 
Louis had now no alternative but to submit to necessity, as he 
had done three years before. Himself, his wife, and his child pro- 
ceeded as suppliants to the rebel encampment, and received from 
the three princes a cold assurance of personal protection. Jt was 
soon evident that this was the i^tmost extent of favor they had to 
expect. The empress was immediately dispatched, under strong 
guard, across the Alps, and imprisoned in the fortress of Tortona. 
Loiliaire proclaimed his father deposed from the throne, and him- 
self sole emperor, after which he committed the unhappy Louis to 
close custody in the convent of St. Me'dard at Soissons, and con- 
fined the boy Chai'les in the abbey of Priim in the Ardennes. It 
was now resolved to take measures by which the dethroned mon- 
arch should be forever precluded from resuming the reins of gov- 
ernment, or engaging in political affairs. The bishops, at the in- 



A.D. 833-838. SECOND RESTORATION OF LOUIS. 81 

stigation of Lothaire, summoned Louis to appear before a solemn 
assembly in the cathedral of Soissons (Nov. 11, 833), and there, 
after rehearsing once more the exaggerated catalogue of his crimes 
and errors, they condemned him to the punishment of perpetual 
penance. Louis acknowledged, with many teai's and the most ab- 
ject self-abasement, the justice of the sentence; divested himself 
of his military belt ; and received from the hands of the prelates, 
in exchange for his secular dress, the sombre garb of a penitent ; 
after which he was reconducted to his cell. Lothaire, however, 
fearing a popular movement in his favor, removed him soon after- 
ward, for farther security, to Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Thus was Louis le Debonnaire a second time dispossessed of 
the empire, and that by the agency of the very episcopate which 
during his whole reign he had labored to exalt to the highest pitch 
of power and honor. But the unnatural proceedings of Lothaire 
defeated their own purpose ; the strange spectacle of the emperor's 
degradation excited among the people feelings of intense remorse, 
disgust, and indignation ; and within four months from the occui'- 
rence (March, 834) Lothaire found liimself compelled not only to 
set his father at liberty, but to save himself by a hasty flight into 
Burgundy. Pepin and Louis of Germany combined their forces, 
and, amid general demonstrations of jpy, proclaimed the emperor's 
second restoration to his throne. The empress, set free from her 
distant prison, returned without delay to France, where she at once 
recovered all her honors and all her influence. Lothaire attempted 
at first to maintain himself in arms against his father, but, meeting 
with little support, Avas soon reduced to submission ; and the emper- 
or, whom no experience could inspire with wisdom and firmness, 
instead of inflicting on his son a signal and richly-deserved chas- 
tisement on so fair an opportunity, granted him a full pardon, and 
left him in possession of his kingdom of Italy, on condition that he 
would not repass its boundary without the imperial permission. 

§ 16. The fatigue and agitation of fifteen years of strife now 
began to tell seriously upon the emperor's health ; and Judith, 
perceiving that his life was not likely to be of long duration, urged 
him to make a new and final division of the empire for the bene- 
fit of the favorite Charlep. Louis yielded as usual ; and at Cre- 
raieux, near Lyons, in 835, a partition was declared by which the 
French and German territories were nearly equally distributed 
between Pepin, Louis, and Charles, the portion of Lothaire being 
restricted to the kingdom of Italy. Two years later a large addi- 
tion was made to the appanage of Charles, at the expense of Pepin 
and Louis; and upon the premature death of Pepin (Dec, 838) 
this arbitrary and unjust act was in its turn rescinded; Judith 
was reconciled to Lothaire, and they joined in imposing on the 
emperor a final arrangement satisfactory to both. Bv this treatv, 

]:> 2 



82 LOUIS LE DEBONNAIRE. Chap. V. 

concluded at Worms in 839, the whole empire, with the single ex- 
ception of Bavaria, was divided equally between Lothaire and 
Charles. Upon the news of this flagrant invasion of his rights, 
Louis the German once more raised the standard of revolt, and 
attacked the Rhenish provinces. The emperor though much 
broken in health, led his troops against him, and compelled him 
to retire within his own borders. But the effort exhausted the 
failing strength of Louis le Debonnaire ; at the close of the cam- 
paign he took up his abode, melancholy and heartbroken, on an 
islet of the Rhine, opposite Ingelheim ; and there, after lingering 
some weeks, he expired, with sentiments of fervent piety, on the 
20th of June, 840, in the sixty-third year of his age. With his 
dying breath he bequeathed his forgiveness to his son Louis, ex- 
horting him, at the same time, to reflect on his sin against the 
Divine law of obedience to parents, a sin which had brought the 
gray hairs of his father with sorrow to the grave. 

§ 17. The vmity of the Carlovingian empire disappeared with 
Louis le Dftbonnaire. For many years the elements of three dis- 
tinct nationalities had been gradually developing themselves in 
Western E'^rope ; and the struggle which now ensued between 
the sons of the late emperor terminated in the complete establish- 
ment of this new organization, which has lasted without any im- 
portant change down to our own days. It was to no purpose that 
Lothaire, immediately on receiving the news of his father's death, 
hurried from Italy toward the north, assumed the title of sole 
emperor, summoned the nobles to do him homage, and attempted 
to direct the administration. He was resolutely opposed by his 
brothers Louis and Charles ; and as each of the three princes was 
supported by the population of the provinces under his sway, it 
was soon manifest that an appeal to arms was inevitable. The 
inhabitants of France, of whatever origin, rallied round the stand- 
ard of Charles ; the Germans obeyed the orders of their sovereign 
i^ouis ; the Italians and Austrasians were unanimous for the rights 
of the Emperor Lothaire. 

Louis and Charles, reconciled by a common danger, combined 
their forces against Lothaire, who on his part formed an alliance 
with his nephew Pepin, son of the late King of Aquitaine. Much 
time Avas spent in fruitless negotiation ; at length the hostile 
armies approached each other on the great plain of Auxerre ; and 
at Fontenay, on the 25th of June, 841, a terrible battle took place, 
which ended in the total defeat of Lothaire. Forty thousand of 
tlie vanquished army are said to have perished on the field, and 
the loss of the victors was probably not much inferior. The brunt 
of the action was sustained by the Franks ; and the flower of the 
nation, tlie descendants of the Teutonic conquerors of Gaul, were 
exfevminated in this disastrous strife. Yictorv havina; declared 



A.D. 842-843. TREATY OF VERDUN. 83 

for Charles, Bernhard of Septimania acknowledged him at once 
as his sovereign, and took the oath of homage for his duchy. 

Lothaire fled to Aix-la-Chapelle, and made great efforts to pro- 
long the contest, but without success. The coalition against him 
was much strengthened by a solemn meeting of his two brothers 
at the head of their armies, which took place at Sti-asburg in Feb- 
ruary, 842, when they formally renewed their engagements, and 
swore to maintain a close and inviolable alliance. It is on this 
occasion that we meet with the first mention of the Romance 
language — a corruption of the Latin, with an admixtui-e of Celtic 
— which had now grown into general use in France, and from 
which the French of modern days was gradually formed. The 
form of the oath pronounced in this tongue by Louis the German, 
in order to be understood by the mass of his brother's Neustrian 
and Aquitanian troops, has been preserved to us. Charles, on 
the other hand, harangued the soldiers of Louis in the Tudesque 
dialect, the vernacular of all the German nations, which they had 
preserved in the countries beyond the Rhine, where Roman col- 
onization had never made much progress. 

§ 18. Finding that the league against him had received power- 
ful re-enforcements, and that from the distracted state of the empire 
he was in danger of losing several of the provinces which still ad- 
hered to him, Lothaire, in June, 842, made proposals to his broth- 
ers for a general pacification. Preliminaries were at once agreed 
to at a meeting near Macon ; and after an exact survey of the 
whole extent of the empire by one hundred and twenty commis- 
sioners, the great question in dispute was finally adjusted by a 
treaty signed at Verdun in August, 843. 

To Lothaire, with the title of emperor, was allotted his original 
kingdom of Italy, and, in addition, the territories comprised be- 
tween the Rhine, the Meuse, the Saone, and the Rhone, including 
the city of Lyons. The northern, part of Lothaire's dominions 
received from him the title of Lotharingia, which became in later 
times Lorraine, a name retained down to the eighteenth century. 

The portion assigned to Louis consisted of the Avhole of Ger- 
many, to which were annexed the cities of Mayence, Worms, and 
Spires, on the left bank of the Rhine. 

The whole country west of the Meuse, the Saone, and the 
Rhone was declared subject to the sceptre of Charles the Bald ; 
and it is therefore from this treaty of Verdun that historians date 
the erection of the kingdom of France, properly so called. 

Thus was completed, by the hands of the grandsons of Charle- 
magne, the dismemberment and dissolution of that magnificent 
empire which had been the work of his life. Three monarchies 
arose upon its ruins, henceforth to remain distinct in race, in lan- 
guage, in character, in interests ; and, in point of fact, the treaty 



84 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Chap. V^, 



of Yerdun only proclaimed a separation which the lapse of time 
and the progress of nations had already accomplished. 

The Empress Judith survived to witness the settlement which 
established her son upon the throne of France. She closed a life 
of restless intrigue and singular vicissitude in September, 843, and 
was buried in a monastery at Tours. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



CHARLEMAGNE EMPEROR. 

The motive of Charlemagne in accepting 
the title of emperor has not been generally 
understood. Even Mr. Hallam remarks that 
Charlemagne's probable design in so doing 
" was not only to extend his power in Italy, 
but to invest it with a sort of sacredness and 
prescriptive dignity in the eyes of his bar- 
barian subjects. These had been accustomed 
to hear of emperors as something superior to 
kings ; they were themselves fond of pompous 
titles, and the chancery of the new Augustus 
soon borrowed the splendid ceremonial of the 
Byzantine court" {Middle Ages, i., p. 123). 
But the real motive has been more correctly 
appreciated by Mr. Maine in his work on Aii- 
cient Law. lie points out that the concep- 
tion of '•'■ territorial sovereignty" was at that 
time unknown, and that, when the descend- 
ants of Clovis aspired to be something more 
than kings of the Franks, the only precedent 
which suggested itself was the title of Em- 
perors of Kome. The passage deserves the 
careful attention of the student. " The world 
had lain for so many centuries under the 
shadow of imperial Rome as to have forgot- 
ten that distribution of the vast spaces com- 
prised in the empire which had once parceled 
them out into a number of independent com- 
mionwealths, claiming immunity from extrin- 
sic interference, and pretending to equality 
of national rights. After the subsidence of 
the barbarian irruptions, the notion of sov- 
ereignty that prevailed seems to have been 
twofold. On the one hand it assumed the 
form of what may be called '• tribe sovereign- 
ty.' The Franks, the Burgundians, the Yafi- 
dals, the Lombards, and Visigoths, were mas- 
ters, of course, of the territories which they 
occupied, and to which some of them have 
given a geographical appellation, but they 
based no claim of right upon the lact of ter- 
ritorial possession, and, indeed, attached no 
importance to it whatever. They appear to 
have retained tlie traditions which they 
brought with them from the forest and the 
steppe, and to have still been in their own 
view a patriarchal society, a nomad horde, 
merely encamped for the time upon the soil 
which afforded them su.stenance. Part of 
Transalpine Gaul, with part of German}', had 
now become the country de facto occupied 
by the Franks — it was France; but the Mero- 
vingian line of chieftains, the descendants of 
Clovis, were not kings of France, they were 
kings of the Franks. The alternative to this 



peculiar notion of sovereignty appears to have 
been — and this is the important point — the 
idea of universal dominion. The moment a 
monarch departed from the special relation 
of chief to clansmen, and became solicitous, 
for purposes of his own, to invest himself 
with a novel form of sovereignty, the only 
precedent which suggested itself for his adop- 
tion was the domination of the emperors of 
Rome. To parody a common quotation, he 
became 'a!tt Ccesar aut nuUus.' Either he 
pretended to the full prerogative of the By- 
zantine emperor, or he had no political status 
whatever. In our own age, when a new dy- 
nasty is desirous of obliterating the prescrip- 
tive title of a deposed line of sovereigns, it 
takes its designation from thc^jeop^e instead 
of the territorii. Thus we have emperors and 
kings of the French and a king of the Bel- 
gians. At the period of which we have been 
speaking, under similar circumstances, a dif- 
ferent alternative presented itself Tlie chief- 
tain who would no longer call himself king 
of the tribe must claim to be emperor of the 
world. Thus, when the hereditary Mayors of 
the Palace had ceased to compromise with 
the monarchs they had long since virtually 
dethroned, they soon became unwilling to call 
themselves kings of the Franks, a title which 
belonged to the displaced Merovings; but 
they could not style themselves kings of 
France, for such a designation, though ap- 
parently not imknown, was not a title of dig- 
nity. Accordingly, they came forward as as- 
pirants to universal empire. . . . These 
singularitie_s of view were not altered on the 
partition of the inheritance of Charlemagne 
among his three grandsons. Charles the 
Biild, Lewis, and Lothaire were still theoret- 
ically, if it be proper to tise the word, emper- 
ors of Rome. Just as the Cajsars of the East- 
ern and Western Empires had each been de 
jure emperor of the whole world, with de 
facto control over half of it, so the three Car- 
lovingians appear to have considered their 
power as limited, but their title as unquali- 
fied. The same speculative universality of 
sovereignty continued to be associated with 
the imperial throne .after the second division 
on the death of Charles the Fat, and, indeed, 
M'as never thoroughly dissociated from it so 
long as the empire of Germany lasted. Ter- 
ritorial sovereignty — the view which con- 
nects sovereignty with the possession of a 
limited portion of the earth's surface — wag 
distinctly an offshoot, though a tardy one, of 
feudalism." (Ancient Liur, p. 103-107.) 




Chapel of St. John, roitier?, an early Christian Church, probably of the tenth century. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LATER CAELOVINGIANS. FROM THE TREATY OP VERDUN TO THE AC- 
CESSION OF HUGH CAPET. A.D. 843-987. 

§ 1. Charles the Bald, King of France; Eebellions. § 2. Incursions of the 
Normans. §3. Charles the Bald crowned Emperor; his Death. §4. 
Progress of Feudalism. § 5. John Scotus Erigena; Hincmar of Reims. 
§ 6. Louis le Begue ; Louis III. and Carloman. § 7. The Emperor 
Charles the Fat. § 8. Siege of Paris by the Normans. § 9. Eudes, Count 
of Paris, King of France. § 10. Charles the Simple ; Rollo, Duke of 
Normandy. § 11. Deposition of Charles the Simple; Robert andRodolph 
Kings of France; Death of Charles the Simple. § 12. Louis d'Outre- 
mer; Hugh the Great, Duke of France. § 13. Lothaire King of France. 
§ 14. Louis v., Le Faineant ; Accession of Hugh Capet. 

§ 1. The cessation of strife between the royal brothers did not 
restore peace to the divided empire. The monarchical authority 
had received a fatal shock during the disorders of the late reign ; 
the great nobles, freed from the restraint of an iron will and n 
commanding genius, had grown more and more refractory, and 
now sought openly to shake off all central control, and set them- 
selves up, each in his own domain, as so many petty independent 
sovei'eigns. This tendency, which resulted in the feudal system, 
forms the chief feature of the period upon which we are now en- 
tering. Charles the Bald, a prince by no means devoid of intel- 
ligence, ability, or courage, struggled against it ineiFectually 
throughout his reign. 

Three extensive provinces had already assumed the attitude of 



86 CHARLES THE BALD. Chap. VL 

separate states, and defied his authority ; Aquitaine, which was 
ruled by Pepin II. ; Septimania or Languedoc, under the energetic 
Duke Bernhard ; and Brittany, which obeyed the orders of its na- 
tive chief, Nomenoe. Charles had to make war successively, and 
often simultaneously, with all these stubborn opponents. The 
contest in Aquitaine was long and desperate ; but, though this 
country, as well as Languedoc, was at length ostensibly annexed 
to the dominions of Chai'les the Bald and his son, the real author- 
ity was divided between three great feudal potentates — the Duke 
of Guienne or Gascony, and the Counts of Poitiers and Toulouse. 

§ 2, During the whole of this period of strife and anarchy 
France suffered fearfully from the incessant invasions and depre- 
dations of the fierce Scandinavian freebooters called Northmen, 
and in later times Normans. This coming danger had been dis- 
tinctly foreseen by the sagacity of Charlemagne; but during his 
vigorous rule the coasts of the empire remained secure from for- 
eign agression. His degenerate descendants left the sea-board 
without defense ; and in 841 the Norman vikings entered the 
mouth of the Seine with a flotilla of 120 galleys, and, sailing up 
to Rouen, pillaged and burnt that city. Every year their devas- 
tations were repeated, until in 845, under a famous chieftain 
named Regnor Lodbrog, they penetrated into the very heart of 
the kingdom, and appeared before the walls of Paris. Such was 
the helplessness of Charles, that the capital was abandoned with- 
out resistance to these ruthless invaders ; they rifled the rich ab- 
beys of Ste. Genevieve and St. Germain des Pres ; and having 
amassed an enormous booty, were at length persuaded to make 
terms with Charles, Avho purchased their retirement at the price 
of 7000 pounds of silver. Their ravages extended through Aqui- 
taine and the central districts. In 857 the city of Paris fell a 
second time into the hands of the brigands, who, after the wildest 
excesses, massacred in cold blood many thousands of the inhabit- 
ants — so that "the islets of the Seine," says a contemporary 
chronicler, " were whitened with the bones of their victims." 

It was not till 862 that the Normans were for the first time 
successfully opposed in PYance by the vigor and gallantry of Rob- 
ert the Strong, a noble of Saxon descent, whom Charles the Bald 
had created duke or governor of the provinces between the Seine 
and the Loire. For five years this able captain confronted the 
enemy on every point, and routed them in several serious engage- 
ments. Yet his valor could not avert the ignominy of a treaty 
to which Charles was reduced in 866. The payment of 4000 
pounds of silver — the restoration or ransom of all French prison- 
ers who had effected their escape — a compensation for every Nor- 
man killed by the Franks — such were the shameful conditions im- 



A.D. 843-870. INCURSIONS OF THE NORMANS. 87 

posed on the degraded successor of Charlemagne. The following 
year was marked by new misfortunes ; the valiant Count Robert 
attacked a band of Normans, under their leader Hasting, between 
Le Mans and Angers ; Hasting, hard pressed, took refuge in a vil- 
lage church, from which, toward nightfall, he made a desperate sor- 
tie ; and here Kobert was slain, with many of his followers, fighting 
heroically to the last. His army, having lost their chief, dispersed 
in confusion, and the pirates triumphantly regained their fleet. 

This Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, descended from Chil- 
debrand, the brother of Charles Martel, was the great-grandfather 
of Hugh Capet, and ancestor of the kings of France of the. third 
dynasty. His death was a heavy blow to the declining monarchy 
of the Carlovingians. He had acquired the title of the " Macca- 
beeus" of his time.* 

§ 3. The course of events, by which Charles the Bald survived 
not only liis two brothers, but also several of their successors, p)-o- 
cured him in his later years a vast extension of territory, at the 
same time that those which originally belonged to him were ei- 
ther ravaged by strangers or wrested from him by rebellious vas^- 
sals. The death of the Emperor Lothaire took place in 855 ; his 
dominions were divided among his three sons, of whom the eldest, 
Louis, became Emperor and King of Italy ; the second, Lothaire, 
King of Lorraine ; while for Charles, the youngest, a new king- 
dom was erected consisting of Burgundy and Provence. All 
these princes died Avithin a few years of each other, leaving no 
direct heirs; Charles of Provence in 863, the King of Lorraine 
in 869, the Emperor Louis H. in 875. The dominions of Lo- 
thaire ought to have passed to the eldest of his brothers, the Em- 
peror Louis ; but Charles the Bald, in contempt of the treaties 
regulating the succession, instantly invaded Lorraine, where a con- 
siderable party declared in his favor, and he was crowned at Metz 
in September, 869. The emperor, engrossed by a war with the 
Saracens in the south of Italy, contented himself with gentle re- 
monstrances ; but Louis the German threatened in plain terms to 
march against his brother with the whole strength of Germany, 
and compel hira to retire at the point of the sword. Charles, 
upon this, suspended his warlike movements, and proposed to ne- 
gotiate ; and the brothers soon concluded an arrangement at Mer- 
sen, August 9, 870, by which the dominions of their nephew were 
divided nearly equally between them. The eastern part of Lor- 
raine, between the Meuse and the Rhine, with transjurane Bur- 
gundy, fell to the share of Louis the German ; Charles obtained 
the western districts, between the Meuse and the Scheldt — cisju- 
rane Burgundy — and the counties of Lyon and Vienne. 
* Annales Metenses. 



88 DEATH OF CHARLES THE BALD. Chap. VL 

Fresh complications arose upon the death of the Emperor Louis, 
which occurred in August, 875. Both his uncles, between whom 
there now reigned a spirit of bitter and fierce rivalry, at once laid 
claim to the imperial crown. A council assembled at Pavia ad- 
judged it conjointly to both princes ; a strange award, proceeding 
either from fear, or from the hope of exciting a contest which 
might end in the deliverance of Italy from foreign dominion. 
Charles the Bald, with more energy than he had ever displayed 
in the defense of his just rights, immediately crossed the Alps to 
vindicate his doubtful and precarious claim. He reached Rome, 
gained over the Pope, John VIII., to his interests, and was crown- 
ed emperor in St. Peter's on the feast of Christmas, 875. But 
meanwhile Louis the German invaded the French territory ; and 
the new emperor was compelled to return northward in all haste. 
Louis, retreating on the approach of Charles, soon recrossed the 
Khine ; and after some farther hostile demonstrations on both 
sides, overtures were once more made for a pacific arrangement. 
The negotiations were suddenly suspended by the tidings of the 
death of Louis the German ; this prince, the ablest and most vir- 
tuous of the grandsons of Charlemagne, expired at Frankfort on 
the 28th of August, 876, leaving three sons to share his dominions. 
Charles attempted to seize them ; but he died shortly afterward, 
in a miserable cabin upon the Pass of the Mont Cenis. His end 
is said to have been hastened by a potion administered to him, 
under pretense of arresting the disease, by his Jewish physician 
Zedekias. Charles the Bald died October 6, 877, at the age of 
fifty-four, having reigned upward of thirty-seven years. 

§ 4. The principle of feudalism made rapid progress during this 
distracted reign. Koyalty, enfeebled and decaying, was manifestly 
incapable of enforcing its authority or protecting the public inter- 
ests ; the nobles were thus compelled in self-defense to assume 
sovereign power ; and each baronial domain became by degrees a 
separate independent kingdom. The face of the country was 
soon covered with fortresses and walled towns, for the preservation 
of life and property from the ravages of the Norman bandits. 
Charles the Bald attempted in vain to check this movement on 
the part of the aristocracy, which tended directly to sap and over- 
throw the monarchy. He repeatedly forbade the erection of cas- 
tles and the fortification of towns without the royal permission ; 
but in the existing state of society the measure was of absolute 
necessity ; the king's edicts were disregarded, and in the end he 
was compelled to yield. 

The freemen and small proprietors, finding that the central gov- 
ernment was utterly unable to protect them, were naturally led to 
apply for succor to some powerful neighboring baron, to whom 



A.D. 870-877. PROGRESS OF FEUDALISM. 89 

they recommended themselves, as the phrase went, by the promise 
of a yearly payment in money, or by undertaking personal military 
service as his vassals. This practice was formally sanctioned by 
a royal ordinance of 841, and a capitulary published some years 
later rendered it obligatory. The step, though suicidal on the 
part of the crown, was inevitable from the exigencies of the times. 
The allegiance which had hitherto been paid to the sovereign was 
thus transferred to the provincial counts and other feudal digni- 
taries ; and, as a necessary consequence, both lords and vassals be- 
came alienated from the throne and its interests ; and the territo- 
rial and administrative unity of the empire, so laboriously built 
up by Charlemagne, was ere long dissolved. . Gradually the allo- 
dial lands wei'e converted into feudal tenures, the freeholder glad- 
ly submitting to this sacrifice in return for the guaranty of pro- 
tection and security. And, to complete the revolution, every pos- 
sessor of a fief usurped within his own boundaries all the func- 
tions and prerogatives of sovereignty ; he declared war and made 
peace, dispensed justice, imposed taxes, coined money, enacted laws, 
conferred honors and rewai-ds. 

A capitulary, passed at the council of Kiersy-sur-Oise in 877, is 
especially to be noticed, as having granted to the nobles in express 
terms the hereditary transmission of their benefices. This privi- 
lege had long been tacitly conceded — it was now solemnly confirm- 
ed ; and the act referred to may therefore be taken to mark the 
formal establishment of the feudal constitution. It runs in the 
following terms: "If any one of our Jldeles has a son or other 
relative capable of serving the state, he shall be at liberty to trans- 
mit to him his benefices, honors, and employments, as he may 
think proper. Upon the death of a count, if his son should be 
with us,* our son shall name certain of the nearest relatives of the 
deceased, in concert with the local functionaries and the bishop of 
the diocese, to conduct the administration of the said county until 
we shall receive information of the vacancy, and shall be able to 
invest the son with' the dignities enjoyed by his late parent. If 
the count's son be of tender age, the same officers and the bishop 
shall form a council to assist the child in the government of the 
county, until, upon due announcement made to us, we shall confer 
upon the heir his paternal honors. The like regulations shall 
also be observed with regard to their vassals by the bishops and 
abbots, the counts, and all other our faithful subjects." The effect 
of this edict was that the counts and other ofhcers, instead of 
being, as hitherto, the delegates and lieutenants of the sovereign, 
became independent governors in their several territories. Tlieir 

* That is, serving with the French army in Ital_y. This capitular}^ was 
passed on the eve of the king's departure oil his last" Italian expedition. 



90 ERIGENA— HINCMAR. Chai-. VI. 

authority henceforth descended by hereditary succession in their 
families ; and by the close of the century the whole country was 
parceled out among these confederate houses, the heads of which, 
while nominally recognizing a King of France, obeyed, in reality, 
no other law than that of their private Avill and interests. It fol- 
lowed, as an ulterior consequenee, that the occupant of the throne 
became virtually the dependent nominee of the great feudatories. 

§ 5. The intellectual as well as the political and social condi- 
tion of France degenerated under the later Carlovingians. The 
revival of letters under Charlemagne was premature, and there- 
fore ephemeral, but the decline under his successors was gradual; 
and during the reign of Charles the Bald several eminently learn- 
ed and celebrated men adorned the various departments of litera- 
ture and science. The chief of them were John Scotus, surnamed 
Erigena (or the Irishman), and Hincmar, archbishop of Keims. 
The former was for many years at the head of the Palatial school, 
where he taught a system of philosophy founded upon Aristotle 
and Plato, and encouraged discussions upon the most abstruse 
metaphysical questions, such as predestination and free-will. 
Some of his works, especially the " De Divisione Naturfe," were 
vehemently attacked by the theologians of the time, and were con- 
demned by more than one council as savoring of heresy. He 
Avas accused of attempting to reconcile Christianity Avith the Pla- 
tonism of the Alexandrine school ; and his writings evince tenden- 
cies to Avhat was afterward termed Mysticism, and even l^anthe- 
ism. John Scotus took a distinguished part in the controversy 
on the subject of the Eucharist, raised by Paschasius Radbert, 
abbot of Corbey. He was commanded by Charles the Bald to 
write in reply to the treatise of Paschasius, who had broached, in 
terms more positive than Home had hitherto sanctioned, the doc- 
trine of transubstantiation. The work of Erigena is unfortunate- 
ly lost. He is understood to have opposed not only the doctrine 
of transubstantiation, but also that of the Eeal Presence. Two 
centuries later, in 1049, a council at Rome condemned his book to 
be committed to the flames by the hands of the famous Berenger, 
who had warmly advocated the same views. 

Erigena was a man of astonishing acquirements for the age in 
which he lived. He was an excellent scholar ; his Avritings testify 
an extensive and accurate acquaintance with the best authors of 
antiquity. At the court of Charles the Bald he was received on 
terms of confidential familiai'ity, and was constantly consulted by 
the king on all the great questions of the day, ecclesiastical and 
civil. He is supposed to have died in France about the year 880. 

Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, was perhaps the most conspic- 
uous and influential personage in France, both in Cliurch and 



A.D. 877-882. LOUIS LE BJ^GUE— LOUIS III.— CARLOMAN. gi 

State, during the latter half of the ninth century. Born in 806, 
of the noble family of the Counts of Toulouse, he was early in life 
favored and advanced by Louis le Debonnaire and Charles le 
Cliauve, and held the archi-episcopal see of Eeims for thirty-seven 
3'^ears — from 845 to 882. The talents of Hincmar were of the 
highest order ; and he possessed a singularly courageous, lofty, in- 
dependent tone of mind. Throughout life.he was a strenuou's de- 
fender of the rights of the Galilean Church, and the legitimate 
jurisdiction of its bishops, against the usufpations and encroach- 
ments of the See of Rome. His prolonged contest with Nicholas 
I., one of the ablest and most ambitious of the popes, is especially 
memorable. Hincmar is also celebrated for his controversy with 
Gottschalk, a monk of the diocese of Soissons, who maintained 
the doctrine of absolute predestination and reprobation. Gotts- 
chalk was condemned by a council at Kiersy in 849, and seems 
to have been treated by the archbishop with extreme severity. 
This excited violent initation and opposition among the clergy, 
some of whom began to write in suj^port of Gottschalk's tenets ; 
and Hincmar continued involved in bitter polemical disputes for 
the rest of his days. Several of his works are extant, among 
which are epistles addressed to Charles the Bald, Louis le Begue, 
aad Charles the Fat, treating of political science in general, and 
full of excellent advice for the government of the kingdom. Hinc- 
mar died in exile from his cathedral citj, which had fallen into 
the hands of the Normans, in the year 882. 

§ 6. Louis le Begue, or the Stammerer, the only surviving son 
of Charles the Bald, was a prince of sickly constitution and feeble 
character. He died, after a brief reign of a year and a half, in 
April, 879, leaving two sons, Louis HI. and Carloman, who were 
raised to the throne conjointly — the elder, Louis, reigning in the 
north of France, while Carloman governed Aquitaine and Bur- 
gundy. The only event of importance in their reign was the re- 
volt of Duke Boson, the brother-in-law of Charles the Bald, who 
in 880 usurped the independent sovereignty of the southeastern 
provinces, and established himself, with the general consent of the 
population, as King of Burgundy and Provence. This new king- 
dom, of which the capital was Aries, maintained its separate ex- 
istence for upward of a century and a half: it was ceded in 1033 
to the Emperor Conrad H., and was thenceforth annexed to the 
German empire. The great vassals, however, continued to share 
among them the real power : the principal of them was the Dau- 
phin of Vienne. 

Louis III., after having signally defeated the Northmen at San- 
court, near Abbeville, and concluded a treaty with their leader 
Hasting, died suddenly in August, 882. He had scarcely com- 



92 CHARLES THE FAT. Chap, VI. 

pleted his twentieth year. His brother survived him somewhat 
more than two years : his death was occasioned by a wound which 
he received in hunting the wild-boar, in December, 884. 

§ 7. Neither Louis III. nor Carloraan left any issue male ; and 
the crown now devolved, according to the strict law of succession, 
upon an infant prince qf five years old, named Chai'les, a posthu- 
mous son of Louis le Begue by his second wife Adelaide ; but the 
imminent dangers which threatened the state were such as to re- 
quire a sovereign of nTature age, capable of exerting himself in its 
defense : and the nobles, deviating from the line of hereditary 
right, adjudged the throne to the Emperor Charles the Fat, young- 
est son of Louis the German. Charles possessed already the king- 
doms of Italy and Germany, so that, on adding France to his do- 
minions, he united under his sceptre nearly the whole of the im- 
mense empire founded by Charlemagne. Charles, however, was 
utterly unworthy of the lofty position to which fortune had raised 
him. He was devoid both of military and political talent ; his 
corpulence rendered him inactive ; he was cruel, treacherous, cow- 
ardly. A formidable league was formed agamst him in the year 
following his accession, by a Norman chieftain named Godefrid, 
who had obtained the lordship of Frisia, and Hugh (Hugues) of 
Lorraine, the illegitimate son of King Lothaire, and pretender to 
his father's throne. Under pretext of a conference to arrange their 
differences, Charles enticed Godefrid into his power in the island 
of Batavia, and there caused him to be assassinated in cold blood. 
Hugh was seized at the same moment, deprived of his eyesight, 
and sent prisoner to the convent of St. Gall, where he expired 
shortly afterward. Upon the news of this perfidious outrage, the 
fury of the Normans was excited beyond all bounds ; they flew to 
arms on all sides ; and pouring into France at once by sea and 
land, arrived for the third time before Paris, with an overwhehn- 
ing force commanded by the famous Rollo, in November, 885. 

§ 8. The siege which ensued is one of the most memorable 
events of the ninth century. The capital Avas nobly defended by 
three great feudal lords, among whom Eudes, count of Paris, eld- 
est son of Count Robert the Sti'ong, was the most distinguished. 
They had fortified themselves with a chosen garrison on the island 
of the Seine, where for the space of eighteen months they success- 
fully defied the utmost efforts of the besieging army of 30,000 
men. The citizens were encouraged to hold out by repeated as- 
surances that the emperor was on his march at the head of a vast 
army to their succor ; but Charles was far away in Germany, 
where he continued to linger, apparently indifferent to the fate of 
Paris, though messenger after messenger was dispatched to warn 
him of the extremity of the danger. Meanwhile the siege was 



A.D. S82-88S. EUDES. 93 

pressed with extraordinary vigor ; the assailants exhausted all the 
resources of the art of war, but could never succeed in carrying 
the two bridges, each defended by a lofty tower, which united the 
island with the right bank of the Seine. The heroic, garrison be- 
held its numbers grievously thinned by daily losses ; but still there 
was no thought of surrender. A body of the imperial troops, 
which arrived at length under the Duke Henry, was seized with 
panic upon the death of their leader, and retreated in confusion. 
After a farther delay of three months, the indolent Charles arrived 
with the grand army of the empire, and crowned the heights of 
Montmartre. The besieged exulted in the prospect of long-delay- 
ed vengeance and triumph ; and it is more easy to conceive than 
to express their indignation when they learned suddenly that the 
emperor had entered into a disgraceful compromise with the half- 
defeated enemy, by which he agreed to pay 800 pounds of silver 
for the ransom of Paris, the Normans being permitted to retire 
unmolested into Burgundy. This indignity was deeply resented 
by the whole nation. The Parisians repudiated the ti'eaty with 
scorn, and fiercely attacked the Normans when they demanded a 
passage ^cross the Seine : they were obliged to drag their galleys 
by land for a distance of more than two miles from the city before 
they could embark in safety. 

The emperor retired from Paris to Soissons, overwhelmed with 
chagrin, and worn out by disease. It was with difficulty that he 
reached the frontier of Germany, where he found himself the ob- 
ject of general contempt and aversion. His intellect became im- 
paired ; and a diet of the empire, assembled at Tribur, near May- 
ence, gave utterance to the unanimous sentence passed against 
him by his incensed subjects, by decreeing his deposition from the 
throne. The wretched prince sought shelter in the monastery of 
Reichenau, near the Lake of Constance, where he ended his days 
in a pitiable condition both of body and mind, January 12, 888. 

§ 9. The death of Charles the Fat was the signal for the final 
dismemberment and dissolution of the Carlo vingian empire. It 
broke up at once into its natural divisions of France, Germany, 
and Italy ; but these were again subdivided into no less than sev- 
en independent states, each of which elected as sovereign the most 
powerful and illustrious of its local aristocracy. The crown of 
France was offered, in grateful recognition of his gallant defense 
of Paris, to the Count Eudes, who had already been invested by 
the late emperor with the Duchy of France. He was proclaimed 
and crowned amid general demonstrations of satisfaction and joy; 
but he soon discovered that the throne to which he had succeeded 
Avas beset with perils ; and his reign of ten years was a continual 
struggle either with foreign invasion or with internal faction and 



94 CHARLES THE SIMPLE. Chap. VL 

rebellion. The election of Eudes was not recognized in Aqui- 
taine ; he encountered obstinate resistance from the Counts of 
Poitiers and Auvergne ; and he was never able to establish more 
than a no^jajijal authority over the provinces south of the Loire. 
The example of Aquitaine was followed in Brittany, where Alan, 
count of Vannes, having obtained an important victory over the 
Normans in 890, declared himself independent, assumed the royal 
title, and reigned gloriously for seventeen years. Meanwhile a 
powerful party adhered to the dethroned dynasty of the Carlo- 
vingians, in the person of the youthful Charles, the sole surviving 
son of Louis le Begue. Taking advantage of the absence of Eu- 
des on a distant expedition, they conveyed the young prince se- 
cretly to Reims, where he was crowned King of France, Januaiy 
28, 893, having just attained the age of fourteen. Eudes soon 
hastened northward in full force, upon which Charles and his par- 
tisans escaped to the court of Arnulf, king of Germany, who, as 
successor to Charles the Fat, was looked upon as the head of the 
family of Charlemagne, and the natural protector of its rights. 
After a desultory civil strife, the Carlovingian party sent a depu- 
tation to treat with Eudes for terms of peace. Eudes Jaehaved 
toward his young opponent with generous moderation ; ceded to 
him in full sovereignty the territory between the Seine and the 
Meuse, and guaranteed to him the succession to the crown of the 
whole kingdom. This arrangement had scarcely been ratified 
when Eudes fell dangerously ill at La Fere-sur-Oise, and expired 
on the 3d of January, 898, at the age of forty, having Avith his 
last breath enjoined the barons who surrounded him to transfer 
their allegiance faithfully to Charles. His brother Eobert suc- 
ceeded him as Duke of France. 

§ 10. Charles IIL, surnamed the Simple, ascended the throne 
peaceably, and reigned for many years in undisturbed tranquillity. 
His character is sufficiently indicated by the epithet attached to 
his name ; his understanding was weak ; he was credulous and 
easily deceived ; and his affable, careless temper rendered him a 
mere puppet in the hands of the turbulent nobles, who profited by 
his imprudence for their own aggrandizement. 

The Northmen, after the example of their barbarous predeces- 
sors in the fifth century, had begun for some years past to show 
an inclination to settle permanently on the soil which they had 
so often desolated by their destructive ravages. They had form- 
ed several colonies in the basin of the Lower Seine, especially at 
Rouen ; they also occupied Bayeux, Evreux, Chartres, and other 
desirable positions in that fruitful district. Their leader at this 
time was the celebrated Rollo, the same who had commanded at 
the siege of Paris; a warrior of gigantic stature, active, enterpris- 



A.D, 888-911. ROLLO OF NORMANDY. 95 

ing, indefatigable, and well qualified to become the founder of a 
powerful kingdom. In proportion as the feudal system developed 
itself in France, the country, covered with fortified towns and ba- 
ronial castles, ceased to be, as formei'ly, an easy, unresisting prey 
to the marauder ; and although Rollo and his followers still con- 
tinued their habits of brigandage, the results were by no means 
so successful, while occasionally they were met by obstinate re- 
sistance and total defeat. In August, 911, the Normans were 
routed with prodigious slaughter before Chartres by Richard of 
Burgundy and Eobert, duke of France. Exasperated by this dis- 
aster, Hollo vowed to take terrible and wholesale vengeance, and 
began to organize his forces for a war of pitiless extermination 
throughout France. It was now that Duke Robert tendered to 
Charles the Simple the politic advice to secure the future peace 
of his kingdom by making timely and valuable concessions to the 
Normans. Accordingly, the king dispatched the Archbishop of 
Rouen as his envoy to Rollo, proffering to him the hereditary 
lordship of the territory situate between the Epte and Brittany, 
together with the hand of the Princess Gisele in marriage, on con- 
dition that he would embrace Christianity, and consent to live in 
peace and amity with France. The Scandinavian chief received 
the royal proposition with a good grace, but represented that the 
district offered was so exhausted and uncultivated that it was im- 
possible to derive from it the means of peaceable subsistence. 
Upon this Charles granted in addition the province of Brittany, 
over which, in fact, he had no power, as it was then an independ- 
ent state under a native prince ; but Rollo was either ignorant of 
this, or deemed it of no consequence ; and after some farther de- 
liberation and delay, the arrangement was finally accepted. A 
meeting now took place between the contracting parties at the 
village of St. Clair-sur-Epte, near Gisors, toward the close of the 
year 911. Here Rollo took the oath of fealty to his new suzerain 
in the accustomed form ; but on being told that, in order to com- 
plete the ceremony, it was necessary that he should kneel and 
kiss the monarch's foot, he started back and disdainfully refused 
to comply. The point of etiquette being insisted on, Rollo at 
length deputed one of his attendants to perform the duty in his 
stead. The rude soldier, either intentionally or from awkward- 
ness, lifted the king's foot with so little circumspection, that 
Charles fell backward from his seat. His comrades could not re- 
press a shout of laughter, which the French were in no condition 
to resent ; the incident was allowed to pass without remark, and 
the important treaty was fully ratified. Rollo now fulfilled his 
engagements by seeking Christian baptism at the hands of the 
Archbishop of Rouen, and received the name of Robert from the 



96 ROBERT— EODOLPH. Chap. VI. 

Duke of France, who answered for him at the font. He was 
shortly afterward united to the P"'rench princess. His territory, 
henceforth known as Normandy, was divided among his warlike 
companions, most of whom followed the example of their duke 
by embracing Christianity. Robert proved himself a wise, intelli- 
gent, and able ruler, and under his government Normandy rose 
rapidly to a high state of prosperity. The ruined churches were 
rebuilt, the towns walled and fortified, the land carefully cultiva- 
ted, justice impartially administered. The barbarian Northmen 
adopted with marvelous facility the language and manners of the 
nation among whom they had settled ; and Normandy became in 
the course of a few years celebrated throughout France for its ad- 
vancement in the arts of industry, commerce, and civilization. 

§ 11. Meanwhile the incapacity of Charles became more and 
more apparent ; he abandoned himself blindly to the guidance of 
his minister Hagaaion, a man of low origin, but of considerable 
energy and talent, who assumed the whole authority of govern- 
ment, and irritated the nobles by his haughty manners and un- 
scrupulous conduct. For ten years Haganon stoutly maintained 
the royal prerogative against the overweening pretensions of the 
great vassals ; but in the year 920 their indignation and discon- 
tent became uncontrollable ; under the leadership of Robert, duke 
of France, whose family was now decidedly the most powerful 
and influential in the kingdom, they rose in revolt against Charles 
and his favorite, renounced their allegiance to the sovereign, and 
collected their forces for the avowed purpose of dethroning him. 
Charles was besieged by Robert of France at Laon, capital of the 
province to which the royal dominion was now limited ; the city 
soon fell into the hands of the insurgents ; and the ill-fated mon- 
arch fled, attended by the faithful Haganon, into Lorraine, which 
he had lately acquired by the death of Louis, son and successor 
of the Emperor Arnulf. Duke Robert, strengthened by two im- 
portant alliances which he had contracted with Herbert, count of 
Vermandois, and Rodolph, or Ralph, duke of Burgundy, was now 
proclaimed king, and crowned at Reims on the 29th of June, 922. 
Civil war foUoAved ; Haganon defended his master's cause with 
undiminished zeal, steadfastness, and courage ; and having obtain- 
ed the assistance of a body of Normans, attacked the army of the 
usurper at Soissons, in June, 923. The battle was bloody, ; Rob- 
ert of France was slain in the first onset ; but his forces were 
successfully rallied by his son, Hugh le Blanc, and the Count of 
Vermandois, and, after a desperate contest, the victory remained 
with the nobles. Charles escaped once more into Lorraine ; and 
it was now arranged between the three confederate princes that 
the crown sliould be conferred, not on the son of the deceased 



A.D. 911-936. LOUIS D'OUTREMER. 97 

Robei't, but on his son-in-law, Rodolph of Burgundy, who was ac- 
cordingly crowned at Soissons in July. Herbert of Vermandois, 
a man of base and faithless character, was offended that the choice 
had not fallen on himself; he sent to assure Charles of his return 
to loyalty, and to oiFer him assistance and protection ; and having 
thus obtained possession of the king's person, he imprisoned him, 
by an act of odious treachery, in his strong-hold at Chateau Thi- 
erry. Upon the news of this catastrophe, Charles's queen Ogwi- 
na, a sister of Athelstan, king of the Anglo-Saxons, effected her 
escape to England, and took refuge at her mother's court ; she 
carried with her the heir of the Carlovingians, a child of three 
years old, who, from this circumstance of his early expatriation, 
received the name of Louis d'Outremer. The captive king was 
transferred from one dungeon to another, according to the caprice 
or fancied interest of his tyrannical jailer, who made use of him 
as a means of extorting whatever concessions he desii-ed from Ro- 
dolph. At one time he was set at liberty, and replaced upon the 
throne ; but within a few months he was again a prisoner, and 
died at length in the castle of Peronne, in October, 929. 

§ 12. The death of Charles the Simple relieved Eodolph from 
gi'eat embarrassment ; he was thus enabled to employ his whole 
energies in combating Herbert of Vermandois, which he did with 
such success, that his opponent, after losing the cities of Laon, 
Amiens, and St. Quentin, was reduced to seek the protection of 
Henry the Fowler, king of Germany ; this prince interposed his 
mediation, and negotiations folloAved which brought about a treaty 
of peace between the disputants in 935. Rodolph, who had gov- 
erned with considerable vigor and resolution, died shortly after- 
ward in the prime of life, in January, 936, leaving no issue. 

Hugh le Blanc, or the Great, Duke of France and Count of 
Paris, unquestionably the most powerful personage in the king- 
dom, might now, as on a former occasion, have placed the crown 
without difficulty upon his own head. He preferred, however, to 
waive his claim for the present, and to exercise all the authority 
of government under the name of another ; and accordingly con- 
certed measures with Herbert of Vermandois and William Long- 
sword, duke of Normandy, for recalling from England the exiled 
son of Charles the Simple, Louis d'Outremer, who was welcomed 
with sincere joy by the nation, and immediately took possession 
of the throne of his ancestors. Hugh the Great demanded and 
obtained the duchy of Burgundy as a reward for the part he had 
taken in this restoration. 

The young king had been carefully educated at the court of his 
uncle Athelstan, and, being of a spirited temper, Avas by no means 
disposed to resign himself implicitly to the dictation of the Duke 

E 



98 LOTHAIRE. Chap. VI. 

of France. No sooner did his real character appear than Hugh 
began-to grow lukewarm in his cause ; the estrangement increased, 
and it was not long before an open rupture ensued. Hugh form- 
ed an alliance with the most potent and ambitious sovereign of 
the time, Otho the Great, king of Germany ; and the rebellious 
feudatories, among whom was the Duke of Normandy, threw off 
their allegiance to Louis, and declared themselves vassals of the 
German crown. France was once more rent by civil strife ; Otho 
invaded the country, and advanced to Attigny, where he caused 
himself to be proclaimed king (940) ; the confederate lords took 
Reims, but were repulsed before Laon, which was gallantly de- 
fended by Louis ;. and after some farther hostilities Pope Stephen 
VHL interposed his mediation in the king's favor, and enjoined 
the French princes, under pain of excommunication, to return to 
their duty as loyal subjects. Peace was accordingly restored in 
942, but it was unhappily of short duration, Louis, with a chival- 
rous courage worthy of better fortune, struggled manfully to stem 
the tide of insubordination and anarchy ; but it was too strong to 
be arrested ; he was thwarted at every turn by Hugh and his as- 
sociate barons ; and successive defeats left him with little more 
than the empty shadow of royal authority. The monarchy had 
fallen to the lowest ebb, and was evidently verging to extinction ; 
the royal domain comprised little more than the rock of Laon and 
the district immediately surrounding it. 

Louis died in 954, from the effects of a fall from his liorse while 
chasing a wolf in the forest between Laon and Reims. By his 
queen Gei-berga, a sister of Otho of Germany, he left two sons, 
Lothaire and Charles. 

§ 13. The crown was now, for the third time, at the disposal of 
Hugh the Great, and for the third time he declined to assume it. 
Lothaire, a youth of fourteen, was pi'oclaimed king, and crowned 
at Reims. Two years afterward (956) Hugh died, and was buried 
at St. Denis, an abbey which belonged to him, together with sever- 
al other ecclesiastical preferments. This remarkable man, who 
must be regarded as the true founder of the Capetian dynasty, 
left five children by his third wife Edgiva, sister to the Emperor 
Otho. His eldest son Hugh, surnamed Capet, succeeded him as 
Count of Paris and Duke of France, and afterward became king. 
One of his daughters was married to Richard, duke of Normandy. 

The Emperor Otho died in 973, after a long and glorious reign ; 
and Lothaire now made an attempt, with the assistance of Hugh 
Capet and other feudatories, to possess himself of the province of 
Lorraine, and reannex it to France. This project was defeated 
by the adroitness of the young Emperor Otho II., who invested 
Prince Charles, younger brother of Lothaire, with the duchy of 



A.D. 936-987. LOUIS V.— HUGH CAPET. 99 

Lower Lorraine, or Brabant, on condition that he should hold it 
as a fief of the empire, and engage to oppose to the utmost the ag- 
gressive movements of his brother. In 978 Otho invaded France 
at the head of 60,000 soldiers, and, without encountering any 
serious resistance, encamped at length upon Montmartre. Here 
Otho announced to Hugh Capet, who defended Paris, that he 
would salute him with a louder Alleluia than he had ever yet 
heard, and accordingly caused the Te Deum to be intoned by the 
priests, the responses being sustained by the united voices of his 
whole army, to the dismay of the astounded Parisians, whose ears 
were well-nigh deafened by this martial chorus. The imperial 
army remained thi-ee days before Paris, and then retired Avithout 
attacking the city. Lothaire and his barons followed in close 
pursuit, and at the passage of the Aisne, near Soissons, Otho had 
the mortification to see his rear-guard cut to pieces by the French 
cavalry ; all his baggage and stores fell likewise into the hands of 
the victors. 

Hostilities were now suspended, and a reconciliation was ar- 
ranged in 980 ; Lothaire renouncing his pretensions to Lorraine, 
contrary to the advice of Hugh Capet, and to the great discontent 
of the French nation. He died at Reims, at the age of forty-four, 
March 2, 986. 

§ 14. The son of Lothaire, Louis V., surnamed Le Faineant, 
succeeded without opposition, and was crowned at Compiegne ; 
but the public indignation was violently excited against the queen- 
mother,, and the king's first act was to remove her from his court, 
and deprive her of all share of power. This involved him at once 
in discord and strife ; and during the intrigues which followed, 
and which were doubtless fomented secretly by Hugh Capet for 
his own purposes, the condition of the kingdom became daily more 
deplorable. Louis, however, had not long to struggle with the 
many difficulties and dangers which surrounded him ; he was car- 
ried off suddenly and mysteriously, after a reign of little more 
than a year, in May, 987. His death was generally attributed 
to poison administered by his wife, Blanche of Aquitaine. Such 
was the melancholy end of the last of the direct descendants of 
Charlemagne who sat on the throne of France. Louis V. died 
without issue ; and the crown now belonged, according to the 
rightful order of succession, to his uncle Chai'les, duke of Lower 
Lorraine. This prince, however, who had led a disorderly life 
among associates of the worst character, found but few to support 
his pretensions ; and at a grand assembly of the nobles held at 
Senlis, the Ai'chbishop of Eeims, in a remarkable discourse, strong- 
ly urged the election of the Count of Paris, Hugh Capet, as a per- 
sonage "illustrious alike by his deeds and by his power, in whom 



100 



ON THE DECLINE AND 



Chap. VL 



the nation would find a valiant defender, not only of the public 
welfai-e, but of the private rights and interests of individuals." 
His recommendation was accepted with general applause ; Hugh 
Avas declared king ; and by his coronation at Keims, on the 1st of 
July, 987, a new dynasty was inaugurated, which answered to the 
altered constitution and necessities of France, revolutionized as it 
was by feudalism — a dynasty destined to preside over the change- 
ful fortunes of the nation for a period of no less than eight cen- 
turies, and to be overthrown at last by a far mightier revolution 
than that which gave it birth. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



A. AUTHORITIES. 

The chief authority for the reign of Charle- 
magne is liis biography by Eginhard, who 
was the emperor's confidential private secre- 
tary. This work, entitled "Vita et Conver- 
satio gloriosissimi Iniperatoris Karoli Regis 
Magni." is. published in M. Guizot's "Collec- 
tion of Memoires," and is pronounced by him 
to be "beyond comparison tlie most distin- 
guished piece of history from the 6th to the 
Sth century ; a true literary composition, con- 
ceived and executed by a reflecting and culti- 
vated mind." It is divided into two parts, 
the first relating to the wars and foreign pol- 
icy of the emperor, the second to his internal 
administration and the details of his domestic 
life. Another work by Eginhard, " Annales 
Regum Francoriim" (a.d. 741-829) is of infe- 
rior merit in a litei'ary point of view, but 
valuable as a contemporary chronicle. His 
" Epistolse" furnish many curious and inter- 
esting particulars of the social habits and 
manners of the time. 

Eginhard was an Austrasian, and was taken 
very early in life into the service of Charle- 
magne, wlio had him educated under his own 
eye in the School of the Palace. He is said 
to have married tlie Princess Emma, one of 
the daughters of the emperor. The singular 
account of their amours, derived from the 
chronicle of Lauresheim (see the Spectator, 
No. 181), is considered by M. Guizot as of 
doubtful credit. Eginhard became in later 
life Abbot of Seligenstadt, and died there in 
839. 

The chronicle of the Monk of St. GciU, en- 
titled "Faites et Gestes de Charlemagne," 
was written in 8S4 by desire of the Emperor 
Charles tlie Eat, and is another authentic 
source of information for the histoiy of this pe- 
riod. The "Histoire de Charlemagne," by 
(raillardi is a modern French work of estab- 
lished reputation ; there is a similar biogra- 
phy in English by Mr. G. P. R. James. The 
student should not fail to consult carefully M 
Guizot's "History of Civilization," Lectures 
20, 21, 22, 23, and the excellent " Lectures on 
the History of France," by Sir James Stephen, 
late Professor of Modern History at Cam- 
bridge, vol. i.. Lectures 4 and 5. 



B. ON THE DECLINE AND FALL OP 

THE CARLOVINGIAN EMPIRE. 
The strangely rapid dismemberment and 
dissolution of the mighty empire founded by 
Charlemagne is a problem for which various 
solutions have been offered. Some have at- 
tributed it to the unwieldy and unnatural ex- 
tent of the empire ; others to the frequent and 
vmwise territorial divisions among the chil- 
dren and grandchildren of Charlemagne ; oth- 
ers to the deplorable incapacity of Louis le 
Debonnaire, Charles tlie Bald, Charles tlia 
Fat, and Charles the Simple ; others, lastly, 
to the inconveniences of the feudal system, 
which, by distributing political power among 
a multitude of petty independent sovereigns, 
rendered all central government impractica- 
ble. There is no doubt a certain measure of 
truth in all these explanations ; and, indeed, 
all the above mentioned causes may very well 
have been in operation at the same period. 
But the essential principle which lay at the 
root of this great revolution is most probably 
that indicated by Augustin Thierry in his 
"Lettres sur I'Histoire de France," Lett. 11 
and 12, namely, the antagonism of race be- 
tween the various heterogeneous nationalities 
composing the Frank empire. The iron grasp 
of the great emperor maintained political uni- 
ty among different populations which in real- 
ity were alien and hostile to each other; 
but from the moment when the contest com- 
menced between Louis le Debonnaire and his 
sons, the antipathy of I'ace became clearly 
manifest, and the wars which ensued were in. 
fact a struggle between two great opposing 
national interests. " From the beginning of 
the civil war," writes M. Thierry, "a great 
divergence of political opinion became appar- 
ent between the Franks residing in the midst 
of the Gaulish population and tliose who re- 
mained in the ancient German territory. 
The former, who, notwithstanding their de- 
scent, were united in interest with the people 
conquered by their ancestors, took part in 
general against the emperor, ?'. <?., against the 
empire, which in the eyes of the natives was 
a government of conquest. The latter sided, 
on the contrary, with all the Teutonic popu- 
lations, even with those who ia ancient times 



Chap. VI. 



FALL OF THE CARLOVINGIAN EMPIRE. 



101 



were enemies to the Franks. Thus all the 
German tribes, combined aiiparently for the 
rights of an individual prince, defended their 
national cause by supporting against the Gal- 
lo-Franks a power which was the result of 
German conquest. According to contempo- 
rary testimony, the Emperor Louis I. mis- 
trusted the Gallo-Franks, and placed confi- 
dence only in the Germans. When in the 
year S30 it was proposed that a general as- 
sembly, in order to effect a reconciliation be- 
tween Louis and his sons, should be held in 
some town of Roman France, the emperor re- 
jected this advice, and convoked the meeting 
at Nimeguen, to which place his German sub- 
jects i-epaired in immense numbers to sup- 
port him." M. Thierry proceeds to point out 
how the attempt of the Emperor Lothaire to 
maintain intact the imperial authority in its 
former extent was resented as an attack on 
the national independence both of the Ger- 
mans and the Gallo-Eomans, and was followed 
by the temble battle of P'ontanetum, which 
finally consummated the rupture of the Car- 
lovingian empire. From that day forward 
the nations once united under the sceptre of 
Charlemagne separated from e.ach other, and 
formed new states according to their natural 
distinctions of origin, language, and character. 
ThieiTy enumerates nine kingdoms which 
thus sprang into existence : Germany, Lor- 
raine, Frp,nce, Brittany, Italy, Transjurane 
Burgundy, Cisjurane Burgundy, Aquitaine, 
and the Spanish Marches. 

But even after this revolution France con- 
tinued to be governed by a succession of for- 
eif/n rulers, the descendants of the Austrasian 
Charlemagne; and M. Thierry considers that 
a constant struggle was kept up, during the 
period between the death of Charles the Fat 
and the accession of Hugh Capet, for the pur- 
pose of expelling the Teutonic dynasty, and 
replacing it by a line of native-born princes. 
At the liead of this national movement was 
the family of Robert the Strong, count of An- 
jou ; his eldest son, Odo or Eudes, was ele- 
vated to the throne in S3S by the force of pop- 
ular opinion, in opposition to the legitimate 
heir of the Carlovingians, and was, accurately 
speaking, the first king of France, in contra- 
distinction to the kings of the Frankn. The 
reign of Eudes marks the beginning of a sec- 
ond series of civil wars, which terminated, 



after the lapse of a century, in the definitive 
expulsion of tlie posterity of Charles the 
Great. That race, completely identified, as 
it was, by the ties of tradition and family af- 
fection, with the countries of the Teutonic 
tongue, could only be regarded by the French 
as an obstacle to that separation upon which 
their independent existence had just been 
founded. Much is doubtless to be attributed, 
during the progress of the contest, to the per- 
sonal ambition of the family of the Counts of 
Paris ; but that ambition was evidently and 
powerfully supported by national opinion. 
The accession of the third race was, strictly 
speaking, tlie termination of the reign of the 
Franks, and the substitution of national roy- 
alty for a dynasty founded upon conquest. 

This theory of the antagonism of races, 
though substantially sound and true, is nevei'- 
theless open to certain objections, which have 
been clearly pointed out by M. Guizot and Mr. 
Hallam. For example, it does not appear 
that, during the wars of Louis le Debonnaii-e 
and those of his sons, the nations were always 
combined or separated according to their sev- 
eral races. Many other causes seem to have 
influenced their movements, such as geo- 
graphical position, personal ambition, local 
interests, etc. Nor, again, will the diversity 
of races sufficiently account for the formation 
of the numerous smaller states — duchies, 

counties, viscounties, etc which arose on all 

sides during the later years of the Carlovin- 
gian rule ; for these divisions were quite in- 
dependent of any principles of nationality. 
M. Guizot considers that the radical cause of 
the dismemberment is to be found in the mor- 
al and social condition of the people of that 
age, which resisted all centralized and united 
goverament on an extended scale. (Guizot, 
"■History of Civilization," vol. ii., Lecture 
24.) See also Hallam, " Middle Ages," vol. i., 
note xii. 

The notion of the inveterate and perpetual 
antagonism' of the two great races, Franks 
and Gauls, has been adopted by a long series 
of the most enliglitened and eminent French 
writers, among whom (besides Aug. Thierry) 
may be mentioned Montlosier, Thoury, Cha- 
teaubriand, Villemain, and Raynouard. It 
has even been considered as affording the true 
philosophical explanation of the terrible rev- 
olution of IIS). 



102 GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF CAPETIAN DYNASTY. Chap. VIL 



Genealogical Table of the Capetian Dynasty. 

I. From the Accession of Hugh Capet to the Accession of the House of Valois. 
Eobert the Strong, count of Anjou, ob. SOT. 



Elides, count of Paris, 
king, SSS-S9S. 



Hugh le Grand or le Blanc, 

duke of France and count of Paris, 

ob. 956. 

Hugh Capet, king, 987-996. 

Robert, king, 996-1031. 



PLobert, duke of France, 
ob. 923. 



Emma — Eodolph, king of France. 



Hugh, crowned in his father's 
lifetime (ob. 1026). 



Henry I., 
king, 1031-lOCO. 



Robert, duke of Burgundy. 



Philip I., king, 1060-1108. 

Louis VI. (le Gros), king, llflS-llST. 

I 
Louis Vir. (le Jeune), king, 113T-11S0. 

Philip H. (Augustus), king, 1180-1223. 

I 
Louis Vin., king, 1223-1226. 



Louis IX. (St. Louis), 
king, 1226-12T0. 



Philip III. (le Hardi), 
king, 12T0-12S5. 



Charles, count of A.Jou and Provence, 
founder of the royal house of Naples. 



Robert, count of Clermont, 
founder of the house of Bourbon. 



Philip IV. (le Bel), 
king, 1285-1314. 



Charles, count of Valois, 
founder of the house of Valois 



Philip V. (le Lons), 
king, 1310-1322'. 



Charles IV. (le Bel), 
king, 1322-1328. 



Isabella, 

m. Edward II. of 

England. 

i 

Edward III. of 

England. 



Louis X. (le Hutin), 

king, 1314-1316. 
I 

Jeanne, ni. Philip, 

king of Navarre, 

ob. 1349. 

Charles, 
king of Navarre. 

II. House op Valois. 

Philip VI.— Charles YIU. 1328-1498. 
III. House op Valois-Oeleans. 

Louis XII Henry HI. 149S-15S9. 

IV. House of Bourison. 

Henry IV.—Chavles X. 1539-1 T93; and 1814-1830. 
V. House of Oeleans. 

Louis Philippe. 1830-1S4S. 

The Genealogical Tables of the last four houses are prefixed respectively to the reiga of 
the first sovereign of each family. 



\}^\/ 




Castle of Falaise in Normandy, the ancient seat of ths Dnkes of Xormandy ; the birth 
place of William the Conqueror. 



BOOK III. 
FEANCE UNDER THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF HUGH CAPET TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES IV. 
A.D. 987-1328. 



CHAPTER VII. 



FROM THE ACCESSION OF HUGH CAPET TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS VI. 
A.D. 987-1137. 

1. Hugh Capet and Charles of Lorraine. § 2. Reign of Hugh Capet; his 
Death. § 3. Robert the Pious ; his Queens Bertha and Constance. § 4. 
Commencement of the eleventh Century ; Architectural Movement. § 5. 
Persecution of Heretics at Orleans. § 6. Rebellion of Robert's Sons ; his 
Death. §7. Accession of Henrt I. ; Robert "le Diable." §8. Dread- 
ful Famine throughout France; the "Truce of God." § 9. Robert of 
Normandy. § 10. William, Duke of Normandy. § 11. Henry's Mar- 
riage with Anne of Muscovy; his Death. § 12. Accession of Philip I. ; 
Conquest of England by William of Normandy ; the Normans in Southern 
Italy. § 13. Hostilities with William of England. § 14. Philip and Pope 
Gregory VII. ; Bertrade de Montfort ; the King Excommunicated. §15. 
Peter the Hermit; tlie Council of Clermont; Proclamation of the first 
Crusade. § 16. Leaders of the Crusade; Failure of the Expedition un- 
der Walter the Penniless ; the Grand Army reaches Constantinople. § 17. 
Capture of Jerusalem. § IS. Death of Philip I. § 19. Accession of 
Louis VI. ; Aifranchissement des Communes. § 20. Different Constitu- . 



104 HUGH CAPET. Chap. VH. 

tion of the Boroughs in the South and North of Prance. § 21. Wars of 
Louis with Henry I. of England , Marriage of Prince Louis ; Death of 
Louis VI. ; his Character. § 22 Rise of the Schoolmen ; Roscelin ; St. 
Auselm ; Abelard ; St, Bernard. 

§ 1. Hugh Capet, 987-996. — Hugh Capet was the represent- 
ative of the neiv nationality of France, as opposed to the old Teu- 
tonic element and the foreign dominion of the Caiiovingians. The 
great feudatories had determined to place the ci'own upon the head 
of one of their own order; and they naturally gave the preference 
to the possessor of the most extensive, important, and central fief 
of the kingdom ; especially as three members of his family had 
already been raised successively to the royal dignity, and in each 
instance had proved themselves worthy of the public confidence 
and gratitude. Thus the throne, to use the words of Montes- 
quieu, was by the accession of the Capetians " annexed to a great 
fief." The king was simply the head of a confederate aristocracy 
— the premier baron of France. 

Charles of Lorraine, however, the excluded heir of the Carlo- 
vingians, was not without partisans ; nor was he destitute of cour- 
age and resolution to prosecute his claims. At the head of the 
forces of his duchy he marched from Cambrai in May, 988, and 
gained possession of Laon, from which Hugh in vain endeavored 
to dislodge him ; and in the course of the following year the im- 
portant cities of Soissons and Keims likewise opened their gates 
to the pretender. Matters began to look alarming ; and the king, 
fearing the effect of a single serious reverse in open warfare, now 
had recourse to intrigue and treachery to remove his dangerous 
rival. His instrument for this purpose was the Avily and unprin- 
cipled Adalberon, bishop of Laon ; this prelate, feigning to be sud- 
denly convinced of the justice of their claims, insinuated himself 
into the confidence of Charles and his chief adherents, and betray- 
ed them into the hands of Hugh by introducing a party of French 
troops into Eeims while the prince and his officers were engaged 
in the solemn ceremonies of Holy Week (991). Charles and his 
young wife, Agnes of Vermandois, were sent prisoners to the castle 
of Orleans, where the unfortunate prince died after a few months' 
confinement, in 992. He left three sons ; the eldest succeeded 
his father as Duke of Lower Lorraine, and died without issue in 
1006 ; two othei-s, born in captivity at Orleans, after some years 
effected their escape and took refuge in Germany, Avhere their 
posterity became landgraves of Thuringia. The family became 
extinct by the death of its last direct descendant in 1248.* 

* A daughter of Charles, named ITermengarde, was married to Albert, 
count of Namur ; and from her descended Isabella of Hainault, who in 1180 



A.D. 987-992. HUGH CAPET. 105 

§ 2. Hugh now made every effort to strengthen himself by 
conciliating those of the great nobles who still either disregarded 
or openly resisted his authority. The southern provinces, jeal- 
ously maintaining their ancient antagonism to the north, refused 
to recognize his title. A few years later we find the king at feud 
with Adelbert, count of Perigord, a bold and powerful chieftain, 
who, having ovei'run Touraine, entitled himself Count of Tours 
and Poitiers. " Who made thee count '?" demanded the herald 
sent by the king to require his submission. " Who made thee 
king?" retorted the haughty and indignant noble, who regarded 
the Duke of France as no more than his equal, according to one 
of the first principles of feudal society. Hugh Capet Avas also 
careful to fortify his throne by showing mai-ked favor and bound- 
less devotion to the Church. He relinquished those rich heredit- 
ary possessions of his family, the great abbeys of St. Denis, St. 
Germain des Pre's, St. Eiquier, and St. Valery. This step pro- 
cured him considerable credit and popularity, and he was entitled 
by the clergy the "Defender of the Church." He likewise re- 
stored to the monasteries throughout his dominions the privilege 
of free election, which had been discontinued since the reign of 
Charles the Bald. 

Hugh gave a farther proof of prudence and sagacity by causing 
liis son Robert to be associated with him in the government, so as 
to avoid the dangers both of a divided inheritance and of a dis- 
puted succession. Robert was duly crowned at Orleans during 
the lifetime of his father, and the hereditary title of the family of 
Capet was thus formally recognized. This politic measure became 
a precedent which was carefully followed by all the earlier sover- 
eigns of the new dynasty. 

It is related of Hugh Capet that he refused, from motives either 
of humility or superstition, to wear the royal crown, except upon 
the single occasion of his coronation. He contented himself with 
the ecclesiastical cope, denoting his quality as lay abbot of St. 
Martin of Tours.* On his death-bed he gave his son Robert 
strict injunctions to cherish and protect the Church, and bade 
him beware, above all things, of alienating any of the endowments 
belonging to abbeys or convents, for fear of incurring the wrath 
of their great founder, the glorious St. Benedict. The king ex- 
pired peacefully at Paris, which had now become once more the 
capital of France, on the 24th of October, 996, in the fifty-seventh 
year of his age. 

became the consort of Philip Augustus. Some writers of the period beheld 
in this event the restitution of the French throne to tlie race of Charlemagne. 
* Some authors have derived his surname from this circumstance — Capet, 
quasi cappatus. Others suppose it to refer to the large size of his head. 

E2 



lOG EGBERT THE PIOUS. Chap. VII. 

§ 3. KoBERT, 996-1031. — Robert, surnamed the Devout or the 
Pious, the only son of Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine, 
was in his twenty-fourth year when he became sole king by the 
death of his father. He had been educated by the famous Ger- 
bert, aiHibishop of Reims, and afterward Pope Sylvester II., prob- 
ably the most learned and scientific man of his time ; and he was 
well versed in several branches of secular and religious knowl- 
edge, excelling particularly in music. He possessed a benevolent 
temper, warm, generous affections, and a remarkable simplicity of 
chai'acter ; his tastes and pursuits were of the most peaceful kind ; 
he passed his time in acts of devotion and charity, in the compo- 
sition of hymns for the Church service, in superintending the choir 
of the abbey of St. Denis, and in promoting the building of church- 
es and cathedrals. Such a man was not likely to exercise any 
great political influence, or to increase the solidity and power of 
the Capetian throne. 

Notwithstanding his gentle disposition, Robert had a disturbed 
and stormy reig-n. He had married, in 995, the Princess Bertha, 
daughter of Conrad the Pacific, king of Aries and Burgundy, and 
widow of Eudes, count of Blois and Tours. According to the 
rigorous laws then in force, this marriage was doubly uncanonical : 
both temporal and spiritual affinity existed between the parties. 
They were cousins in the fourth degree, and both had answered 
at the baptismal font for the same godchild. Pope Gregory V. 
convoked a council at Rome in 998, and issued a decree com- 
manding the royal pair to separate immediately on pain of ex- 
communication : " King Robert, who has married his relation 
Bertha, in defiance of the laws of the Church, Avill renounce her 
and do penance for seven years, according to canonical usage. If 
he refuse to obey, let him be anathema ! and let the same sen- 
tence be applied to Bertha. Let Archambaud, archbishop of 
Tours, who solemnized this incestuous union, and all bishops who 
have sanctioned it, be suspended from the communion of the 
Church until they shall appear at Rome and give satisfaction to 
the Holy See." 

The king showed on this occasion more firmness than might 
have been expected from his superstitious character, and remained 
for several j^ears deaf to the thunders of the Church ; but the pro- 
longed miseries of an interdict,* which was enforced with extreme 
severity throughout the kingdom, at last subdued his spirit, and 
he sorrowfully parted with the faithful Bertha, whom he never 

* The account usually given of the personal sufFerinps and privations of 
King Robert during the interdict rests on tlie authority of Cardinal Peter 
Damiani, who wrote sixty years afterward. It is rejected, as evidently ex- 
aggerated, by Sismondi, H. Martin, and other writers. 



A.D. 992-1006. HIS QUEENS.' 107 

ceased bitterly to regret to the end of his days. About the year 
1006 he contracted a second alliance, marrying Constance, daugh- 
ter of the Count of Toulouse and Quercy. The new queen was 
beautiful, but withal of an imperious, overbearing temper: she 
ruled her husband with a rod of iron ; and various anecdotes re- 
main to attest the meek patience with which Robert endured her 
tyranny, and his kind ingenuity in shielding others from its effects. 
The chroniclers complain that the favor of the queen now attract- 
ed to the French court a crowd of strangers from Aquitaine — a 
frivolous, luxurious, dissipated race, whose extravagant style of 
dress, combined with loose morals, had a pernicious effect among 
the Franks, tending greatly to corrupt the ancient simplicity and 
sobriety of their character.* Making allowance, however, for the 
naiTOwness of monkish prejudice, and the general rudeness of 
manners in the north, we may infer from this statement that the 
superior civilization and elegance of southern society had now 
begun to make its way into the remoter provinces. A taste for 
art and literature had always lingered among the Gallo-lioman 
population of Languedoc and the shores of the Mediterranean ; 
and this had received of late years a great impulse from their in- 
tercourse with the Saracens of Spain, at that time the most re- 
fined and enlightened people of Europe. 

§ 4. The eleventh century opened with a season of extraordinary 
excitement throughout the Christian Avorld. It was universally 
believed, from a mistaken interpretation of a passage in the Apoca- 
lypse,! that the end of all things was close at hand. The business 
and the pleasures of life were suddenly suspended; the concerns 
of commerce and agriculture — all provision for temporal interest 
— gave way to the one absorbing consideration of impending judg- 
ment and eternity. The churches were too small to contain the 
thronging crowds of terrified suppliants for mercy. Property of 
all kinds — lands, money, houses, castles — was hastily bequeathed 
to the cathedrals and monasteries, in the hope that these sacrifices 
might avail to purchase favor and safety in the life to come. J 
The dreaded period approached, arrived, and passed away, and 
still the earth remained unmoved on its foundations. Gradually, 
as time wore on, men's minds resumed a calmer tone ; but a pro- 
found impression had been made, of which the clergy skillfully 
. took advantage to re-establish their own ascendency, and to enrich 
tlie Church by the zealous munificence of the faithful. Within 
the next few years the churches were restored, enlarged, embel- 

* Chroniqne de Eaonl Glaber, iii., ch. 9. t Eevel., xx., 1-7. 

% Most of the charters of endowment granted at tliis time commence with 
the formula "Appropinquante mundi termino, et imminente ejus ruina, " 
etc., etc. 



108 ROBERT THE PIOUS. Chap. YII. 

lisbed, throughout France and Italy. It was the beginning of 
that wonderful architectural movement of the Middle Ages Avhich 
has covered Europe with its glorious monuments of Christian art 
and Christian self-devotion. The abbey of St. Martin at Tours, 
the splendid church of St. Aignan at Orleans, the cathedrals of 
Perigueux, Angouleme, and Cahors, are among the many remark- 
able foundations dating from the reign of Robert the Pious ; to 
which were added, later in the century, the magnificent abbeys of 
Cluny, Yezelai, and St. Sernin at Toulouse. 

§ 5. This religious ardor was still at its height when news ar- 
rived that the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem had 
been totally destroyed by Hakim, the Fatimite caliph of Egypt, 
with circumstances of revolting blasphemy and insult. This out- 
rage raised a storm of indignation throughout Europe ; and in 
France especially it was avenged by a merciless persecution of the 
Jews, who were supposed to have secretly incited the infidels to 
perpetrate the crime. The Jews were every where subjected to 
extortion, banishment, torture, imprisonment, massacre. At Sens, 
where the proscribed sect had found temporary shelter, they were 
hunted «ut and put to death with fearful cruelty under the im- 
mediate direction of Eobei't himself (1016). 

The spirit of persecution showed itself soon afterward in a new 
phase, on the discovery of certain heretics at Orleans, who were 
accused of reviving the worst errors of the Manichreans. Their 
leaders were two priests, canons of the church of the Holy Cross 
at Orleans, one of whom held the office of confessor to Queen Con- 
stance. Robert assembled at Orleans a council (1022) consisting 
of bishops, abbots, and religious laymen, before whom the secta- 
rian priests were interrogated as to their opinions. As far as can 
be ascertained, they seem to have held the eternity of matter, 
while they denied the inspiration of the Old Testament, the doc- 
trines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Real Presence, the 
efficacy of the sacraments, and the utility of praying to saints. 
They also taught that Ave are saved, not by obedience to God's 
law, but by faith only. Finally, they condemned the ordinance of 
marriage, and forbade the use of animal food. These tenets are 
nearly identical with those ascribed to the Paulicians, otherwise 
called Bulgarians, a sect which sprung up in the East during the 
seventh century, and was severely persecuted by several Greek, 
emperors. Their heresy varied but little from that of the Gnos- 
tics, Docet^, and Cevinthians, of the primitive age, and had much 
in common with tliat of the Albigenses of later times. 

Great efforts were made to induce the accused priests to recant, 
but in vain : they displayed immovable constancy, and declared 
themselves prepared for tlie last extremity. Being at length pro- 



A.D. lOOG-1031. PEKSECUTION OF HERETICS. 109 

nounced contumacious, -they were delivered over to the secular 
arm, and, together with eleven others of the same persuasion, pub- 
licly burnt at the stake. As they were led to execution. Queen 
Constance, regardless alike of her sex, her rank, and the first dic- 
tates of humanity, struck the unfortunate Stephen, her former con- 
fessor, so violently with a small staff tipped with iron, which she 
carried in her hand, that one of his eyes was dashed from its sock- 
et. This barbarous act was justified, and even applauded, as an 
instance of zeal for the truth triumphing over natural respect and 
affection. 

These heretics of Orleans were the first who suffered death in 
France on account of religion since the days of the heathen per- 
secutions. The example caused universal terror, but the evil, 
though checked for the moment, was not extirpated : it reappeai'- 
ed at different intervals and under several transformations, but 
always with the same type of a bold denial of mysterious doctrine, 
and an appeal to sense and reason in opposition to faith. 

§ 6. The declining years of the amiable Robert were not des- 
tined to pass in the enjoyment of repose. His sons, disgusted by 
the insolent and factious conduct. of their mother, leagued togeth- 
er in rebellion, summoned their followers to arms, and seized upon 
several of the royal castles and domains, of which they appro- 
priated the revenues. The king, like his unfortunate predecessor 
Louis le Debonnaire, was compelled to march against his rebel- 
lious children, who, after a lengthened and bloody campaign in 
Burgundy, were defeated and reduced to submission. But the 
gentle spirit of Robert sunk under the pressure of this unnatural 
conflict : tranquillity had scarcely been restored when he fell ill 
at the castle of Melun, and breathed his last on the 20th of July, 
1031, at the age of sixty, after a reign of thirty-five years. 

If Robert was not an enterprising or brilliant sovereign, he was 
an upright, kind-hearted, and excellent man — qualities which de- 
servedly endeared him to all classes of his subjects. His loss was 
long and sincerely lamented, especially by the poor, to Avhom his 
compassionate charity had been unbounded. His name and mem- 
ory are still familiar from the many beautiful hymns of his com- 
position which have been adopted into the services of the Church ; 
among others, that commencing "O Constantia martyrum," which 
is said to have been written at the desire of his wife, who was 
anxious that the musicil talents of her husband should be exer- 
cised in her honor. Seeing her own name in the first line, the 
queen was satisfied that her request had been complied with, and 
inquired no farther. 

§ 7. Henry I., 1031-1060. — No sooner was Robert entombed 
at St. Denis than the turbulent Constance intrigued witli the great 



110 HENEY I. Chap. VII. 

vassals to oppose the peaceable succession of Prince Henry, and 
to obtain the crown for her youngest and favorite son Robert 
Her chief supporter was the ambitious and powerful Eudes, count 
of Blois, Chartres, and Champagne, by whose exertions the league 
soon assumed so threatening an aspect that Henry, finding him- 
' self almost defenseless, hastened into Normandy with a few faith- 
ful attendants, and invoked the protection and succor of Duke 
Robert, the son and successor of Richai*d sans Peur, who had died 
in 1028. Robert, whom the historians have surnamed the Mag- 
nificent, responded nobly to the appeal of his suzerain, and at once 
took up arms to maintain his cause. He attacked the revolted 
barons, and defeated the redoubtable Count Eudes in three pitch- 
ed battles. The reckless daring of the Duke of Normandy in this 
campaign inspired such general terror as to procure for him the 
designation, by which he became popularly known, of Robert " le 
Diable," or the Devil. The rebellious nobles soon found that 
they wei'e overmatched ; one by one they abandoned the party of 
the queen-mother, and made their submission to Henry ; and Con- 
stance determined to resign the contest and seek a reconciliation 
with her son. Henry behaved with magnanimous forbearance ; he 
confirmed his brother Robert in the duchy of Burgundy, which 
was transmitted to his posterity through upward of three cen- 
turies ; and having granted certain advantages to his mother, was 
peaceably acknowledged throughout the kingdom. Queen Con- 
stance survived but a short time the humiliation of her defeat: 
this princess, who for so many years had tormented her own fam- 
ily and embroiled the state, expired at Melun in July, 1032. 

Henry, after the pi-ecedent of mui^y former sovereigns, was com- 
pelled to pay dear for the assistance by which he had secured his 
throne. Robert of Normandy obtained from him the cession of 
Gisors, Chaumont, Pontoise, and the whole district called the 
Vexin, compiised between the Oise and the Epte. This acquisi- 
tion brought the Norman frontier within twenty miles of the cap- 
ital of France. 

§ 8. A fearful famine, by which France was visited about this 
time, occasioned throughout the country miseries almost unparal- 
leled in history. For three years in succession the harvests had 
failed through incessant heavy rains and a general derangement 
of the seasons. Food was obtainable only at exorbitant prices ; 
and the poorer classes, after enduring unheard-of sufferings, were 
driven at last to the most revolting expedients to appease their 
hunger. An innkeeper near Macon was burnt alive for having 
massacred no less than forty-eight unhappy wayfarers, whose 
bodies had afterward been devoured. Human flesh was publicly 
exposed for sale in the market of Tournus. Such was the mor- 



A.D. 1031-lOil. FAMINE THROUGHOUT FRANCE. HI 

tality produced by the famine that numbers of corpses were left 
uiiburied in the streets and on the highways : this attracted mul- 
titudes of wolves from the forests, who attacked indiscriminately 
the living and the dead, so that entire districts became depopu- 
lated. "At length," says the chronicler, "by the mercy of God 
the waters were assuaged, and the sky began to brighten ; the 
breath of the winds became propitious, and the calamities of the 
earth drew toward their close." The harvest of 1034 was one of 
prodigious abundance, surpassing the entire produce of three or- 
dinary years. 

This terrible infliction did not pass away without remarkable 
results. Amid the genei-al consternation and despondency, the 
voice of the Church made itself heard in behalf of suffering hu- 
manity ; synods were held in all parts of the country, and decrees 
were passed for the repression of violence and tyranny, the pro- 
tection of life and property, and the maintenance of mutual for- 
bearance and charity. The " Peace of God," as it was called, 
was solemnly proclaimed throughout the land, and hailed with 
the utmost enthusiasm by all classes. The severest penalties were 
denounced against all who should infringe it : even the privilege 
of sanctuary, so inviolable in all ordinary cases of crime, was ex- 
pressly denied to the ofiender. But when the excitement which 
produced these extravagant measures had subsided, it was found 
impossible to enforce them in practice. With the return of plen- 
ty and prosperity, the lessons of adversity were forgotten ; and 
oppression, rapine, outrage, bloodshed, once more became preva- 
lent. The councils which had established the " Peace of God" 
in 1035, on reassembling five years later, were compelled to modi- 
fy their resolutions ; and instead of abolishing war altogether, 
confined themselves to the more pi-acticable task of endeavoring 
to mitigate its evils. The result was the institution of the "Truce 
of God" (1041), which provided that all hostilities, public and 
private, should be suspended from the Wednesday evening in each 
week until the following Monday morning, that period being 
marked out for sanctification in memory of the passion and resur- 
rection of the Redeemer. The entire seasons of Advent and Lent, 
together with all the great festivals, were included in this merciful 
prohibition. Offenders against the " Truce of God" incurred the 
penalty of death, which might be commuted, however, by pecunia- 
ry fine ; they were liable also to excommunication and banishment. 

The legislation of the feudal age in this particular was un- 
doubtedly of important service to the cause of humanity, civiliza- 
tion, and religion. Though never probably observed with strict- 
ness, the Truce was never abolished ; it greatly abridged the mis- 
eries of private war ; furthered the progress of agriculture and 



112 HENRY I. Chap. VII. 

commerce, which were placed under its special protection ; and 
did much toward the restoration of social confidence and order. 

§ 9. The history of France during the reign of Henry I. is to 
be sought rather in the movements of the great vassals of the 
crown than in those of their nominal sovereign. The king was 
indolent and inactive ; his life uneventful and devoid of interest. 
Many of his feudatories, on the other hand, were men of remark- 
able energy of character and adventurous spirit ; of these, Robert 
of Normandy, surnamed the Devil, demands our chief attention. 

Robert of Normandy was strongly suspected of having procured 
his elevation by the crime of fratricide. He had entertained his 
elder brother, Duke Richard HI., with several of his barons, at a 
great banquet at Falaise : on their return to Rouen all the guests 
were suddenly taken ill, and died in a few hours, with evident 
symptoms of poison. Robert immediately took possession of the 
duchy, imprisoning in a convent his brother's orphan child, the 
rightful heir. The new duke displayed great capacity, and dis- 
tinguished himself by his warlike courage and enterprise, so that 
the Normans were easily reconciled to his dominion. He had 
been the chief instrument, as we have seen, of placing Henry on 
the throne. Three years later he made a successful expedition 
against Alan, duke of Brittany, whom he compelled to pay him 
homage, acknowledging that he held the duchy as a dependent 
fief of Normandy. Not long afterward Robert put in execution 
a design which he had cherished for some time past of making a 
pilgrimage to the Holy Dand, and doing penance for his sins at 
the tomb of the Redeemer. The mother of the fanatic caliph 
Hakem had recently been converted to Christianity ; and the 
church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, having been careful--^ 
ly rebuilt under her direction, was visited by a never-ceasing 
stream of pilgrims from the West, in every grade of society, in- 
cluding numbers even of the female sex. The Duke of Norman- 
dy, who doubtless suffered secretly from the pangs of remorse, as- 
sembled his nobles, and announced his approaching departure for 
the East. They anxiously begged that he would not leave them 
Avithout a head dui'ing his absence, upon which Robert presented 
to them his only son William, a child of seven years old, whom, 
notwithstanding his illegitimate birth, he designated as his heir 
and successor to the dukedom. The barons willingly accepted 
him, and ratified the choice by the oath of allegiance. This child 
was the ofl^spring of his father's amour with the beautiful Arietta, 
daughter of a tanner at Falaise : he was destined, in the sequel, 
not only to inherit his paternal possessions in Noi'mandy, but also 
to win the crown of England, and descend to posterity under the 
proud title of William the Conqueror. 



A.D. 1041-1060. WILLIAM OF NORMANDY. H^ 

Robert set out on liis pilgrimage, the greater part of which he is 
said to have performed on foot ; he readied the Holy City, where 
he duly discharged his vow, with every outward token of profound 
contrition ; but on his return he fell dangerously ill while travers- 
ing Asia Minor, and with difficulty reached Nicsea in Bithynia, 
where he died, not without suspicion of having been poisoned, in 
July, 1035. 

§ 10. The barons of Normandy, upon the death of Robert the 
Devil, refused to acknoAvledge the bastard William as his success- 
or, notwithstanding the oath of fealty they had so lately swoi'n to 
him. William at first received the assistance of the King of 
France, but the feeble-minded Henry afterward changed sides, 
and attacked the son of the faithful vassal and protector to whom 
he owed his throne. But William's genius and valor triumphed ; 
he utterly routed the king's army at Mortemer, and in 1058 
brought the war to an end by a victoiy at Varaville on the 
Dive, after which reverse Henry was glad to arrange terms of 
peace, and interfered no farther in the affaix'S of Normandy during 
the short remainder of his reign. 

§ 11. Henry I. was three times married; he had no issue either 
by his first or second consort ; and interpreting this as a penalty 
for having contracted alliances (although unconsciously) within 
the prohibited degrees, he resolved that his third choice should be 
such as to exempt him from all possibility of a similar misfortune. 
Accordingly, he demanded the hand of Anne, daughter of Yaro- 
slav, grand-duke of Muscovy — a country then recently converted 
to Christianity, and almost imknown to the I'est of Europe. By 
this Russian princess, to whom he was united in 1051, Henry had 
two sons, the eldest of whom received the name of Philip, in mem- 
ory of the supposed descent of his mother from the family of the 
ancient kings of Macedon. 

Tlie death of Henry I. took place in August, 1060, in the twenty- 
ninth year of his reign. The harmless insignificance of his char- 
acter may be inferred from the indifference of the contemporary 
writers, by whom he seems to have been almost wholly overlook- 
ed and forgotten. 

§ 12. Philip I., 1060-1108.— Philip I. was a boy of scarcely 
eight years old when he succeeded to the throne. His father had 
made provision for his minority by naming as his guardian Bald- 
win v., count of Flanders, who had married the Princess Adela, 
sister to Henry. This prince discharged his office with strict 
fidelity, honorably to himself and with advantage to the kingdom ; 
but, unhayjpily, his regency lasted only seven years, and at his 
death in 1067 the young king was left entirely to his own guid- 
ance, before he- had attained the age of fifteen. He had received 



114 PHILIP I. Chap. VII. 

a good education, and was not deficient in understanding; but he 
early discovered a strong propensity to voluptuousness and de- 
bauchery, and these soon became the predominant vices of his 
character. 

It was during the minority of Philip that that ever-memorable 
expedition took place which resulted in the establishment of a 
Norman dynasty upon the throne of England, The details of 
this event belong more properly to English history. It may be 
mentioned, however, that William of Normandy, having resolved 
on his great enterprise, thought it right, before setting out, to pay 
a visit to his youthful suzerain at St. Germain-en-Laye. In this 
interview he requested Philip to assist him, according to feudal 
usage, in prosecuting what he considered his just claims upon the 
English crown ; and promised that, should his attempt prove suc- 
cessful, he would pay homage for the conquered kingdom, holding 
it, like his duchy of Normandy, as a fief of France. Philip, by 
the advice of his barons, refused this application, fearing, on the 
one hand, that in the event of success the Normans would become 
more independent and intractable than ever, and, on the other, 
that in case of faiku'e France would draw upon itself the indig- 
nation and violent hostility of the whole English nation. Wil- 
liam was by no means discouraged ; with unfaltering confidence 
in his own genius and resources, he set sail from St. Valery in 
September, 1066 ; won the decisive battle of Plastings on the 
14th of October following; and was crowned King of England at 
Westminster on Christmas-day. 

The success of -this extraordinary undertaking was doubtless 
owing, in great measure, to the prestige of another marvelous 
achievement of the Normans a few years previously, namely, the 
conquest of Apulia and Sicily, and the foundation of a flourishing 
monarchy in Southern Italy. Early in the century a band of 
Norman pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land, had rendered 
such important service to the Duke of Naples in a contest with 
one of his vassals, that in return the duke granted to them the 
town of Aversa, with a small territory surrounding it. The 
tidings soon reached France ; and the new settlers were joined 
by numerous re-enforcements of their countrymen, thirsting for 
adventure, gain, and self-advancement. Among others, the ten 
sons of Tancred de Hauteville, a baron in the neighborhood of 
Coutances, arrived at Aversa ; they served with distinction under 
the Patrician Maniaces against the Saracens in Sicily ; but, hav- 
ing been treacherously defrauded of their stipulated share of the 
spoil, they turned their arms against the Greeks, totally defeated 
them in a pitched battle in 1040, and became masters of the whole 
of Apulia, which they proceeded to divide among them, William, 



A.D. 1060-1087. EOMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. II5 

surnamed Bras de Fer, the eldest of the brothers, taking the title 
of Count of Apulia. This great success procured for the adven- 
turers many and powerful enemies. Pope Leo IX., Henry III. of 
Germany, and the Greeks of the Eastern Empire, coalesced 
against them ; but at the battle of Civitella (1053) the Normans 
were once more signally victorious. The Pope was taken prison- 
er, and was at length compelled to issue a bull granting to Hum- 
frey de Hauteville and his successors the investure of all that they 
already possessed, and all that they might hereafter conquer, in 
Apulia and Calabria, to be held as a fief forever of the Holy See. 
The new dukedom passed soon afterward to Robert Guiscard, the 
most renowned of the brothers De Hauteville ; and the conquest 
of Sicily having been completed by Count iloger, the youngest of 
the family, the Norman possessions in Italy embraced, in the 
course of a few years, the whole of the modern kingdom of the 
Two Sicilies. 

The fame of these brilliant exploits resounded throughout Eu- 
rope. The prowess of the Norman warriors was universally ap- 
plauded, their good fortune every where envied ; so that, when 
William announced his designs upon England, thousands of bold 
soldiers pressed into his ranks fi-om all parts of France, and ev- 
ery man in his army felt confident beforehand of acquiring wealth, 
povvei-, and glory in the conquest of the Saxons. 

§ 13. In 1075, the jealousy which Philip had not unnaturally 
conceived against William of England, now a sovereign far more 
powerful than himself, led him to promise support to some of that 
monarch's revolted vassals in Brittany. Combining his forces 
with those of Alan, count of Brittany, he compelled William to 
raise the siege of Dol, and retire with considerable loss. The 
same reasons disposed him to give secret encouragement to Wil- 
liam's eldest son, Robert Courthose, who, disappointed of the gov- 
ernment of Normandy, rose in arms against his father, and for 
several years maintained a desultory civil war throughout the 
duchy. William seems for some time to have observed remark- 
able forbearance toward his suzerain ; but at length his irritation 
overcame him, and he sent to demand from Philip the restoration 
of the district called the Vexin, which had been unjustly resumed 
by the crown during his long minority. Philip treated the claim 
with derision, and added insolence and coarse sarcasm to his re- 
fusal of redress. TJport this the King of England, justly exasper- 
ated, invaded and ravaged the disputed territory, and took by as- 
sault the town of Mantes, which he committed to the flames. As 
he rode incautiously among the smoking ruins, his horse's foot 
slipped upon some hot ashes, and William, thrown forward on the 
saddle, received a serious injury. He was removed immediately 



IIQ PHILIP I. Chap. VII. 

to Eouen, and afterward to the monastery of St. Gervais, in the 
outskirts of that city : here, after lingering for six weeks, he died 
on the 10th of September, 1087. 

§ 14. In order to gratify his habitual licentiousness, Philip, 
whose private revenues were scanty, had recourse to the scandal- 
ous expedient of offering for sale, to the higliest bidder, the bish- 
oprics and other valuable ecclesiastical preferments ; the proceeds 
of this unhallowed traffic being expended in riot and debauchery. 
Such -wholesale simony was not likely to escape the censure of a 
pontiff so sternly uncompromising as Gregory VII., who at this 
time filled the chair of St. Peter. As early as 1073, the very year 
of his accession, the Pope addressed to one of the French bishops 
a letter full of indignant remonstrances and menaces against the 
royal offender. In the aiext year he wrote on the same subject to 
all the prelates collectively: "It is your king, or rather your ty- 
rant, who, yielding to the seductions of thexlevil, is the cause of 
all your calamities. He has defiled his youth with every species 
of infamy. Not less weak than miserable, he knows not how to 
rule the kingdom intrusted to his charge; and not only does he 
abandon his subjects to crime by relaxing the bonds of authority, 
but he encourages them by his own example to every thing which 
it is forbidden to do or even to name." Gregory concluded by 
threats of excommunication, interdict, and even deposition, unless 
the king should forthwith renounce his impieties and give proofs 
of repentance. Philip promised amendment, and for a while sus- 
pended, or at least carefully concealed, his simoniacal practices ; 
but afterward relapsed into the same excesses. The whole atten- 
tion of the Pope, however, was now occupied by the war of invest- 
itures with the Emperor Henry IV., and he forbore to carry mat- 
ters to extremity against the King of France. 

Growing hardened in vice, Philip proceeded, in 1092, to a still 
more outrageous violation of public decency, which has left an in- 
delible stain upon his memory. He had long been weary of his 
queen Bertha, and, although she had borne him several children, 
had driven her from his presence and imprisoned her in the castle 
of Montreuil. During a visit which he paid at Tours to Foulques 
le Eechin, count of Anjou, the king conceived a violent passion 
for Bertrade de Montfort, the count's wife, reputed the most beau- 
tiful Avoman in the kingdom. The countess, who had married her 
husband not from affection, but for the sffke of his rank and pow- 
er, was easily persuaded to elope from him and to join Philip at 
Orleans; and since she had previously exacted from the enamor- 
ed monarch a promise to make hei' the partner of his throne, two 
bisliops Avei-e prevailed upon, after much difficulty, to pronounce 
the Church's benediction upon this adulterous union. The Count 



A.D. 1087-1094. THE KING EXCOMMUNICATED. 117 

of Anjou and Robert of Flanders, stepfather of the repudiated 
Bertha, instantly took up arms, but without any serious result. 
The Church on this occasion exercised a prompt and wholesome 
discipline : a papal legate was sent into France, who, assembling 
a national council at Autun (1094), excommunicated the guilty 
pair, and forbade Philip to make use of any of the ensigns of roy- 
alty until he should abandon Bertrade and submit to canonical 
penance. The king was in reality quite indifferent to the thun- 
ders of the Holy See ; but, warned by the example of Henry IV., 
he judged it prudent to avoid the dangers of an open rupture ; he 
therefore temporized, laid aside his crown and sceptre, implored 
forgiveness of the Pope, but, at the same time, declined to separate 
from Bertrade. In 1095 he was a second time anathematized by 
Pope Urban II. at the Council of Clermont, and an interdict was 
laid upon all the places in which the king and his paramour might 
sojourn. Philip continued to dissemble ; submissive in his out- 
ward professions, he treated the matter jestingly in private, and 
made no change whatever in his manner of life. Bertrade was 
crowned at Troyes, enjoyed the title of queen, and had four chil- 
dren by Philip, whose legitimacy, however, was never admitted. 
Meanwhile the unfortunate Bertha died, broken-hearted, in her 
prison at Montreuil. 

§ 15. Under other circumstances, the popes, now rapidly as- 
cending to the zenith of their power, would not have permitted 
themselves to be thus braved with impunity ; but the mind of 
Urban II. was at this juncture absorbed in a project of moment- 
ous magnitude, which demanded the cordial co-operation of all 
Christian princes ; and he felt that it was no time for alienating 
any European potentate, least of all a king of France. It was 
from the Council of Clermont that that spirit-stirring summons 
went forth to the Christian world which w^as answered by the 
first Crusade. 

Above twenty years previously, Palestine, then a province of 
the Saracen empire, had been invaded and conquered by the Sel- 
jukian Turks, a barbarian tribe from Central Asia. They cap- 
tured Jerusalem in 1076, and celebrated their triumph by wanton- 
ly profaning the Holy Places, insulting and pei-secuting the clergy 
and pilgrims, and subjecting the helpless inhabitants to every kind 
of savage cruelty. Europe was soon filled with heart-rending 
accounts of the outrages and sufferings endured by the oppressed 
Christians; and the enthusiastic Gregory VII. conceived the de- 
sign of leading a vast confederate host against the infidels, and 
expelling them from the Holy Land. But that noble-minded 
pontiff, whose whole energies were engaged in a desperate strug- 
gle with the German Empire, died in 1085 without accomplish- 



118 PHILIP I. Chap. VII. 

ing his purpose ; and his successors, although the progress of the 
Turks in the East became daily more alarming, and the tyranny- 
practiced at Jerusalem more odious and intolerable, allowed the 
scheme to sink into abeyance. 

It was reserved for an obscure ascetic to give that irresistible 
impulse to the mind of Christendom which produced and sustain- 
ed for two centuries the mighty enterprise of the soldiers of the 
Cross. Petei', called the Hermit, a poor monk of the diocese of 
Amiens, made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1094, and was 
struck with horror, grief, and indignation at what he there wit- 
nessed of the miseries heaped vipon the Christians, and the sacri- 
legious insults offered to the shrine of the Redeemer. His ardent, 
visionary temperament, joined to sincere piety, led him to imagine 
himself the chosen instrument of Heaven for redressing these 
grievous wrongs, and rescuing the Holy City from the dominion 
of the unbeliever. Furnishing himself with letters of recom- 
mendation from the Greek patriarch, Peter returned to Europe 
and hastened to Rome, where his pathetic and impassioned nar- 
rative produced a deep impression upon Pope Urban II. The 
Pope resolved at length to make a grand effort to unite all Chris- 
tian nations in an expedition for the deliverance of Jerusalem ; 
and Peter Avas dismissed with a charge to proclaim the holy war, 
and excite the faithful of all classes to take part in it, as a sure 
means of working out their salvation. The Hermit fulfilled his 
commission with apostolic fervor and perseverance. Yet the re- 
ception of the project in Italy was at first partial and uncertain ; 
at the council of Piacenza, in March, 1095, the Greek Emperor 
Alexis pleaded earnestly, by his embassador, for aid against the 
Turks, but met with a lukewarm response ; and the council sep- 
arated without making any engagement for a war in Palestine. 

The decisive movement was to originate north of the Alps. 
No sooner did the Hermit announce his message in France, than 
he was every where received with profound sympathy and unex- 
ampled enthusiasm. The austerity of his character and man- 
ners, his wild attire, his vehement eloquence, his intense depth of 
emotion, his self-denying charity, his stirring appeals to all that 
is noblest and most generous in our nature — all this powerfully 
affected the excitable multitude. The preacher was reverenced 
as a saint, an apostle, a messenger direct from heaven ; thousands 
of voices were uplifted for the sacred cause he advocated ; the 
rich offered their wealth, the poor and infirm their prayers ; all 
who could bear arms eagerly devoted their lives to the glorious 
end of rescuing from infidel pollution the soil consecrated by the 
passion of the Divine Redeemer. 

Urban had appointed a second council to be held at Clermont, 



A.D. 1094-1095. ORIGIN OF THE FIRST CRUSADE. Hg 

in Auvergne, in November, 1095. This assembly was attended 
by upward of 230 archbishops and bishops ; and such was the in- 
numerable concourse of people who thronged to witness the pro- 
ceedings, that it was necessary to hold the meetings in the market- 
place, and even in the open fields around the city. On the day 
named for the tenth session of the council Urban mounted a 
throne prepared for him in the great square of Clermont ; he was 
surrounded by his cardinals, and at his side appeared the hermit 
Peter, bearing his pilgrim's staff, and clad with the coarse woolen 
cloak which had Avon for him so large a share of popular atten- 
tion and respect. Peter first addressed the vast assemblage, and 
in words of thrilling power recapitulated the sad story of the des- 
olation of Jerusalem, and the calamities, tortures, and degradation 
endured by her Christian inhabitants. The Pope himself follow- 
ed ; he had hitherto been cautious and reserved, but was now 
evidently fired by the contagious eloquence of the humbler mis- 
sionary. His discourse was a glowing appeal to all the deepest 
passions and incentives of his audience ; he dwelt on the glory of 
self-sacrifice, the necessity of appeasing the Divine wrath and 
vengeance, the certainty of ample recompense both in this world 
and the next for all that they should undergo in such a holy cause. 
Urban concluded with the solemn declaration of Christ, "He that 
loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Every 
one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren or sisters, or father or 
mother, or wife or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall 
receive a hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Scarce- 
ly had the last sentence passed the pontiff's lips, when a loud, 
tumultuous, universal shout arose, >' It is the will of God ! It is 
the will of God!" Ui'ban, interpreting this spontaneous cry as a 
manifest proof of Divine inspiration, decreed that it should be 
taken as the motto or rallying Avord of the Christian army in the 
arduous struggle about to commence. The whole assembly then • 
knelt in confession, and received tlie absolution of the holy father ; 
after which thousands of eager devotees bound themselves by oath 
to avenge the cause of Jesus Christ in Palestine, and received in 
token of their engagement a cross of red cloth affixed on the right 
shoulder. From this badge they were thenceforth distinguished 
as the croise's, and their enterprise as the Crusade. The first eccle- 
siastic who assumed the cross was Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy, 
whom the Pope appointed to accompany the expedition in the 
quality of legate ; the first temporal prince Avho followed his ex- 
ample was the powerful Kaymond de St. Gilles, count of Toulouse. 
The Church was lavish in its grant of privileges, and every spe- 
cies of encouragement, spiritual and temporal, to all Avho should 
enlist under the banner of the Ci'oss. The crusader Avas, ipso fac 



120 PHILIP I. CiiAP.VIL 

to, absolved from his sins, and obtained plenary remission of all 
canonical penance.* He was placed under the special protection 
of the apostles Peter and Paul, and thereby shielded from all vio- 
lence or molestation, both in person and property ; any one who 
might presume to injure him incurred the sentence of excommuni- 
cation until he should make complete reparation. Death during 
the pilgrimage was announced to be a certain passport to a glori- 
ous inheritance in Paradise. 

Never had such a marvelous outburst of mingled military and 
religious frenzy been witnessed in the annals of the world. Ev- 
ery European nation engaged more or less deeply in the dangers, 
difficulties, and glories of the crusade ; it seemed as if the entire 
continent, upheaved from its foundations, and impelled by some 
resistless motive pi-inciple, was about to precipitate itself in one 
stupendous mass upon the shores of Asia. But the history of 
the movement is specially and inseparably identified with that of 
France. The undertaking was thoroughly congenial to the chiv- 
jilrous character of the French nation, and occasioned, in fact, the 
earliest development of its force and vigor. It was in the heart 
of France that the crusade was first resolved on and proclaimed. 
The missionary who preached it, the Pope who sanctioned and en- 
joined it, were natives of France. All the principal leaders of 
the expedition were without exception French ; and two thirds, 
at least, of the crusading army belonged to the same nation. It 
was a Frenchman who founded the Christian kingdom of Jerusa- 
lem ; Frenchmen were placed at the head of almost all the princi- 
palities established by the Crusaders in the East. The language, 
manners, and political system of France prevailed throughout Pal- 
estine dui'ing the period of the Christian occupation. It was ac- 
cordingly with perfect truth and justice that a contemporary his- 
torian, Guibert of Nogent, adopted for his chronicle the title of 
'"Gesta Dei per Fi-ancos." 

§ 16. None of the sovereigns of Christendom took part in the 
first crusade. Philip of France was disabled from joining it both 
by constitutional habits of indolence and by his peculiar circum- 
stances, laboring as he did under the gravest censiu'es of the 
Church. The chief command of the expedition was intrusted to 
Godfrey de Bouillon, duke of Lower Lorraine, descended on his 
mother's side from Charlemagne ; an able, experienced, and suc- 
cessful soldier, and distinguished by the highest qualities of honor, 
vivtue, and piety. Plis principal lieutenants were Hugh, count 
of Vermandois, and Valois, brother of the King of France ; Robert 

* " Quicnnqiie pro sola devotione, non pro honoris vcl jjeciinia; adeptione, 
ad liberandam Ecclesiam Dei Jerusalem profectus faerit, iter ilhul pro omni 
pfcuitentia re])utetiir." — Cone. Clermont. 



A.D. 1095-1099. CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM. 121 

Courthose, duke of Normandy, eldest son of the Conqueror ; Rob- 
ert, count of Flanders ; Stephen, count of Chartres and Blois, who 
had married the Princess Adela, daughter of William the Con- 
queror, and was father of Stephen, afterward King of England ; 
Baldwin, count of Hainault ; and Kaymond, marquis of Provence 
and count of Toulouse. Godfrey de Bouillon was accompanied 
by his two brothers, Eustace and Baldwin of Boulogne. 

The preparations of these great barons for so remote and peril- 
ous a warfare necessarily requii'ed considerable delay ; and long 
before they were in readiness to march, the agitation and impa- 
tience among pilgrims of the humbler classes rose to such a pitch 
that it was found impossible to restrain them. Early in March, 
1096, an immense column of Crusaders, composed of needy adven- 
turers and ignorant fanatic peasants, chiefly from the north and 
east of France, crossed the Rhine, and took the route through Ger- 
many towai'd Constantinople. It was a rude, miscellaneous, un- 
disciplined multitude, numbering upward of 100,000, and divided 
into three bodies under the guidance of a Burgundian knight call- 
ed Walter Sansavoir, or the Penniless, Peter the Hermit, and a 
priest named Gottschalk. After traversing Hungary and Bulga- 
ria, this motley host arrived, not without heavy loss, under the 
walls of Constantinople. The Greek emperor, dismayed by the 
strange aspect and lawless behavior of the advanced guard of his 
western allies, lost no time in persuading them to pass the straits 
into Asia Minor. There they imprudently embroiled themselves 
with the Turks ; they were attacked near Nicsea by the Sultan 
Kilidge-Arslan, with overwhelming numbers, and nearly their 
whole force was exterminated, a remnant of only 3000 fugitives 
escaping from the field. 

The grand army of the Crusaders was put in motion toward 
the close of summer. The general point of rendezvous was Con- 
stantinople. That part of the army which passed through Apulia 
was powerfully re-enforced by a large body of the Normans of 
Southern Italy, raised and commanded by the crafty and ambi- 
tious Bohemond, prince of Tarentum, eldest son of Robert Guis- 
card. This prince was accompanied by his cousin, the generous 
and high-souled Tancred, afterward Prince of Galilee, so cele- 
brated by the muse of Tasso as the mirror 'and model of Christian 
chivalry.* 

§ 17. We have not space for a detailed account of the compli- 
cated operations and events of this first and most successful of the 
crusades. In March, 1097, the entire army of the Franks was 
concentrated in the plains of Bithynia ; and at a general review 
it was found that the total force then present amounted to 100,000 
* Gcrusalemnie Liberata, canto i., io. 
F 



1 22 PHILIP I.— LOUIS VL Chap. VIL 

liorsemen or knights, and 600,000 on foot,* of the two sexes. 
These prodigious niimbers seem scarcely credible, yet there is no 
just ground for supposing them exaggerated. After taking Nicosa 
and Antioch, and fighting many desperate battles, the eyes of the 
Crusaders were at length gladdened by the first sight of Jerusalem 
(7th of June, 1099). Of the enormous multitude which had 
marched from Europe there now remained no more than 60,000 
under arms ; the rest had fallen victims to famine, pestilence, fa- 
tigue, or the sword. Jerusalem was defended by a garrison of 
40,000 Turks ; the siege was instantly commenced, and lasted 
thirty-seven days ; a first assault was repulsed ; the second was 
successful; and on Friday, the 15th of July, 1099, the ramparts 
were stormed amid deafening shouts of " Dieu le veut !" and with 
indescribable triumph the banner of the Cross Avas planted upon 
the battlements and towers of the Holy City. The slaughter Avas 
continued, long after resistance had ceased, in the streets, houses, 
and mosques ; and upward of 70,000 Turks are said to have been 
massacred. The victors rode in blood, says one account,| which 
reached to their horses' knees. After satiating their fury by this 
merciless carnage, Godfrey and his attendant nobles threw off 
their armor, and repaired in solemn procession to the church of 
the Holy Sepulchre, where they poured forth their souls in devout 
humiliation, adoration, and thanksgiving, and thus brought their 
vows to a final consummation. Such were the strange but char- 
acteristic inconsistencies of this frantic undertaking. 

The first fruits of this memorable conquest was the foundation 
of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. The croAvn is said to have 
been fii*st offered to the rash, but gallant and generotis Eobert of 
Normandy ; and on his declining it the election fell, by unanimous 
suffrage, upon Godfrey de Bouillon. That excellent prince ac- 
cepted the high honor conferred upon him, but refused, in his 
pious humility, to wear a diadem of gold and jewels where his 
Eedeemer's brows had been lacerated by a crown of thorns. He 
never assumed a higher title than that of Advocate and Baron of 
the Holy Sepulchre. The reign of Godfrey lasted no more than 
one year: he died in July, 1100, and was succeeded by his broth- 
er Baldwin, count of Edessa. 

The new kingdom *Avas organized carefully upon the feudal 
model: it was distributed into counties and baronies depending 
on the crown, like the great fiefs of France. The chief of them, 
in the order of their foundation, Avere the county of Edessa, the 
principality of Antioch, the principality of Tiberias or Galilee, 
created in favor of Tancred, and the county of Tripoli, conferred 
upon Raymond of Toulouse. There Avere also a Marquis of 

* William of Tyre, lib. ii. - f Robert le Moine. 



A.D. 1099-1108. MISGOVERNMENT OF PHILIP I. 123 

Ptolemais (Tyre), a Marquis of Joppa, and Counts of Bethlehem 
and Nazareth. An important and admirable code of laws was 
drawn up in the French language for the government of the king- 
dom, and entitled the "Assises de Jerusalem." This system of 
jurisprudence became so celebrated that it exercised considerable 
influence upon the principal states of Europe. 

§ 18. No events of public importance passed in France during 
the progress of the crusade. The eyes of the nation were fixed 
intently upon Palestine, and Philip slumbered on unheeded in his 
habitual luxury and sensuality. 

The latter years of his reign were spent in tardy remorse for 
the scandals and disorders of his life. In 1104 he underwent a 
public penance for his sins in the presence of the papal legate, 
and was absolved from the sentence of excommunication ; not- 
withstanding which, Bertrade was suffered to retain the position 
and honors of queen consort to the end of her days. A short 
time before his death the king assumed the habit of a Benedictine 
monk, and desired that he might be buried in the church of 
Fleuri-sur-Loire, not deeming himself worthy of a place in the se- 
pulchral vault of the French monarchs at St. Denis. He breathed 
his last at Melun, July 29, 1108, after a reign of more than forty- 
seven yeai's, one of the longest in the annals of France. 

§ 19. Louis VI., surnamed Le Gros, 1108-1137.-7- At the 
death of Philip I. the demesne royal, or immediate dominions of 
the King of France, consisted of no more than the five cities of 
Paris, Melun, Etampes, Orleans, and Sens, \yith the counties or dis- 
tricts surrounding them, answering nearly to the modern depart- 
ments of the Seine, Seine et Oise, Seine et Mai'ne, and Loiret. 
The communication between one royal town and another was con- 
stantly intei'cepted by the lords of strong isolated fortresses, who 
carried on a regular system of brigandage, pillaging travelers on 
the highways, confining them in the dungeons of their castles, and 
compelling them to purchase their liberty by ruinous ransoms. 
They also shamefully plundei'ed the churches and monasteries, 
and destroyed all public oi'der and security by their lawless spoli- 
ation. Such was the result of the wretched misgovei-nment, or 
rather total neglect of all the duties of government, under the late 
sovereign. The first eight years of the reign of Louis VI. were 
occupied in successive contests with these feudal freebooters. In 
this harassing and protracted strife the king was vigorously sup- 
ported by two great -powers whose interests were vitally at stake 
— the Church and the people. In order to put down the oppres- 
sion' of these I'apacious and seditious barons, he appealed, says, a 
chronicler of the time,* to the bishops : they armed the serfs and 
* Ordericus Vitalis, Ub. ii., cap. 34. 



1 24 LOUIS VI. Chap. VII. 

tenants of the ecclesiastical domains, and thus organized a popular 
association which supplied Louis with numbers of eager and de- 
termined soldiers, who flocked to his standards under the guidance 
of their parish priests. This coalition of the monarch, the hie- 
rai'chy, and the peasantry, against the tyranny of the petty nobles, 
is one of the most remarkable features of the reign of Louis. The 
middle and lower classes, thus uniting for mutual preservation 
from the daily peril of captivity, spoliation, and every species of 
outrage, took the first steps toward the great social revolution 
which is known in French history as the Affranchissement des Com- 
munes. In proportion as they exerted themselves, they acquired 
firmness and self-respect, and learned the secret of their own con- 
sequence and power ; and by degrees they were enabled to wrest 
from their oppressors not merely a bare security for personal free- 
dom, but great privileges of internal organization and self-govern- 
ment, by which the commons, or tiers etat, acquired the rank of 
one of the constitutional orders of the state, and became a perma- 
nent counterpoise against the high feudal nobility. 

§ 20. The foundation of these popular liberties has been gener- 
ally ascribed to Louis VI., from the circumstance that several of 
the earliest municipal charters extant are dated in his reign. It 
does not appear, however, that Louis, properly speaking, granted 
any of these charters ; they were acquired by dint of successful 
contest with the local proprietors ; the king merely ratified them 
by affixing his royal seal. The praise to Avhich he is justly enti- 
tled is that of having been the first to encourage his subjects to 
league together in active exertion for the general weal, and thus 
to achieve their own independence. The foundation of the com- 
munes was the Avork, not of Louis VI. nor of any other sovereign, 
but of the citizens themselves, the result of a simultaneous insur- 
rectionary movement throughout France, for defense against op- 
pression, the maintenance of the rights of pi'operty, and the pro- 
tection and development of commerce. Louis did not originate 
this movement, but he greatly contributed to its success by mak- 
ing himself the champion of public order, by laboring earnestly to 
redress wrongs and refoi'm abuses, and by asserting the supremacy 
of the crown over all its vassals, most of whom had thrown off all 
idea of subordination. 

The constitution of the boroughs in the south, of France difiei'- 
ed considerably from that adopted in the north. Here the model 
was that of the ancient municipia, which had been numerous 
throughout Languedoc and Provence, the earliest and most flour- 
ishing seat of Roman power in Gaul. In this part of France the 
Roman system seems to have been maintained without essential 
change after tlic fall of the empire, so that most of the cities en- 



A.D. 1108-1135. CONSTITUTION OF BOKOUGHS. 125 

joyed uninterruptedly the privileges of a free local government, 
under officers who bore the old traditional name of consuls. The 
consular form of corporation existed at Marseilles, Avignon, Ai-les, 
Narbonne, Toulouse, Perigueux, Bourges, and many other towns 
beyond the Loire ; and this, in most cases, without any grant of 
new charters, and without those violent revolutionary struggles 
which took place in the north. It was simply a revival and con- 
firmation of institutions whose origin dated from the earliest age 
of civilization. And besides these there was a thiud class of towns 
which were voluntarily enfranchised by their feudal lords, and ob- 
tained complete personal freedom and security of property, togeth- 
er with certain fiscal exemptions and commercial advantages, but 
without the right of choosing their own magistrates and conduct- 
ing their own government. Such was the state of all the towns 
in the domaine royal ; Paris obtained its liberties in this way from 
Louis VI. and his two successors ; Orleans was enfranchised in 
like manner by Louis VII. Such, too, was the origin of all those 
numerous towns throughout France which bear the name of Ville- 
franche and Villeneuve. 

The organization of the communes tended materially to increase 
the power of the crown. The sovereign, called on to mediate 
and decide between the nobles and the citizens, became recognized 
as the supreme authority ; besides which, most of the boroughs 
paid an annual contribution to the royal treasury, and were bound 
to furnish a certain force of civic militia on the king's demand. 
It was thus that the Capetian monarchs wei-e gradually enabled 
to extend their dominions beyond the narrow limits of the duchy 
of France, to check and curtail the independence of the great feu- 
datories, and to make themselves respected in the provinces of the 
south, which for so many agQS defied their jurisdiction. 

§ 21. Louis VI. carried on for several years war with Henry I. 
of England. The unfortunate Robert of Normandy had been 
taken prisoner by his brother at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106, 
and confined for life in Cardiff Castle ; his son, however, called 
William Cliton, escaped from the pursuit of Henry, and threw 
himself on the protection of the J'rench king, who at once determ- 
ined to espouse his cause and establish him in the possession of 
Normandy. It is unnecessary to nai'rate the details of this strug- 
gle, which was continued, with various intermissions, till the death 
of William, who was killed in battle beneath the walls of Alost 
in 1128. Though the death of William removed the chief source 
of discord between France and EnglantH, the crafty policy of 
Henry I. led him to seize every opportunity of strengthening him- 
self upon the rival territory. He contracted a second alliance Avith 
the house of Anjou, by marrying his only daughter, the Empi'C'ss 



12Q LOUIS VI. Chap. VII. 

Matilda, to Geoffrey Plantagenet, eldest son of the reigning Count 
Foulques V. Foulques, being on the point of setting out for the 
Holy Land, abdicated his dominions in favor of his son in 13 29 ; 
and the influence of the English crown was thus extended over 
some of the richest and most populous provinces of France. 

The death of Henry I. (December, 1135) was followed by a 
sanguinary struggle in Normandy between the partisans of the 
house of Anjou and those of Stephen of Boulogne, who succeeded 
to the English- crown. One of the principal allies of Geoffrey 
Plantagenet was William X., duke of Aquitaine, a man of fierce 
temper and unbridled passions, who made himself notorious in 
Normandy by the cruelties and outrages which he committed 
during this desolating war. Suffering afterward from the ravages 
of disease, and touched with remorse for his crimes, the duke re- 
solved to go on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compo- 
stella in Spain ; and in order to provide for the contingency of his 
death before returning to France, he declared his only daughter 
Eleanora sole heiress of his dominions, and placed her under the 
guardianship of Louis VI., with the understanding that she should 
be bestowed in marriage upon Prince Louis, surnamed Le Jeune 
to distinguish him from his father. The king accepted with alac- 
rity this splendid offer, M'hich promised to extend the rule of his 
family over almost the whole of France south of the Loire. The 
prince proceeded without delay into Aquitaine, and Ids marriage 
Avith Eleanora was solemnized in the cathedral of Bordeaux on 
the 2d of August, 1137. Immediately after the ceremony Louis 
and his bride resumed their journey northward; but upon reach- 
ino- Poitiers they were met by tidings of the decease of Louis VI., 
who had been carried off by a violent attack of dysentery on the 
1st of August. The Duke of Aquitaine had expired at Compo- 
stella in the preceding April ; and the dominions to which Louis 
VII. thus succeeded reached from the Elver Somme and the bor- 
ders of Flanders to the Adour and the roots of the Pyrenees. 

Louis VI., surnamed Le Gros from his corpulency, was un- 
questionably one of the ablest and best sovereigns who have filled 
the throne of France. The strongest testimony to his worth is 
the universal esteem and affection Avith which he was regarded by 
his subjects, Avho deeply lamented his loss. He found the crown, 
at his accession, depressed to the lowest point of weakness and in- 
significance ; he restored its dignity, asserted its prerogatives, en- 
forced its authority, and left the kingdom enlarged to something 
approaching its ancienf and natural extent of territory. It was 
highly to his credit to have discerned the merit and secured the 
services of such a man as Suger, abbot of St. Denis, Avhom he made 
his confidential friend and prime minister. At his suggestion the 



A.D. 1135-1142. KISE OF THE SCHOOLMEN. 127 

king revived, w^ith signal advantage, the office of the missi domini- 
ci, charged to make judicial circuits throughout the kingdom, and 
give information of all that required reform, correction, or redress. 
The administration of Suger was eminently wise and efficient, and 
contributed much to the popularity and glory of his master. It 
was he who, as the head of the great abbey of St. Denis, took the 
lead in attaching the clergy to the cause of royalty, and organizing 
the peasantry for its defense against the oppressive insolence of 
the aristocracy — a movement which, as we have seen, resulted in 
the formation of the communes and the development of the tiers 
etat. 

§ 22. France produced at this period some of her brightest lu- 
minaries in the region of theological and metaphysical science. 
The system of the schoolmen dates from the commencement of the 
twelfth century : it soon gave rise to the abstruse controversy be- 
tween the Nominalists and Realists — the former denying, the lat- 
ter maintaining, the independent and positive existence of abstract 
ideas, or universals. Koscelin, a priest of Compiegne, is consider- 
ed as the founder of the Nominalists. He was a subtle and pro- 
found dialectician ; but having advanced some heterodox specula- 
tions on the nature of the Trinity amounting in fact to Tritheism, 
he was opposed and triuinphantly refuted by St. Anselm, then Ab- 
bot of Le Bee in Normandy, and aftervi^ard Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. St. Anselm professed the Platonist or Realist doctrines ; 
he was the author of many admirable works, especially on the In- 
carnation and on free will ; and died in 1109. William de Cham- 
peaux followed in his footsteps, and rose to great celebrity as mas- 
ter of the school attached to the cathedral at Paris. Next ap- 
peared the famous Peter Abelard, borft in 1079 at the village of 
Le Pallet, near Nantes, who, having been successively a pupil of 
Roscelin ahd William de Champeaux, formed a theory partaking 
of both schools, which has been styled Conceptualism. He taught 
for some years at Melun, and afterward succeeded to the chair of 
William de Champeaux at Paris : here he established a splendid 
reputation, and many of the most eminent men of the age became 
his auditors and scholars. The romantic story which has associ- 
ated forever the names of Abelard and Heloise is too familiarly 
known to need repetition here. After their separation Abelard 
entered the monastery of St. Denis, where he devoted himself with 
redoubled ardor to the study of philosophy and divinity, and soon 
produced his deeply-learned " Introduction to Theology." Va- 
rious charges of heresy, founded upon this work, were brought 
against him: he was cited before a council at Soissons in 1121, 
and condemned to commit the treatise to the flames with his own 
hand. He now souglit an asylum in the territories of the Count 



128 THE SCHOOLMEN. CuAi-.Tir. 

of Champagne, nnd founded the monastery of the " Paraclete," 
near the town of Nogent-sur-Seine ; but some years afterward he 
incurred the determined and fatal antagonism of St. Bernard, who 
accused liim at the council of Sens, in 1140, of reproducing the 
errors of Arius, Pelagius, and Nestorius. Atelard replied by ap- 
pealing to the Pope ; and Innocent II., who was completely under 
the control of St. Bernard, pronounced his condemnation, prohib- 
ited him from teaching, and ordered him to be confined for life. 
Through the kind intervention of Peter the Venerable, abbot of 
Cluny, Abelard found a retreat in that celebrated abbey, where he 
passed two years in study, humiliation, and exercises of devotion ; 
and having been removed for change of air to the priory of St. 
Marcel, near Chalon-sur-Saone, died there in the sixty-third year 
of his age, April 21, 1142. 

St. Bernard will soon appear in our narrative in connection 
with the Second Crusade. Born of a good family at Fontaine, 
near Dijon, he showed from his youth upward a strongly contem- 
plative, unworldly turn of mind, joined to great powers of intel- 
lect, and a warm, energetic, enthusiastic temper. At the age of 
twenty-two he resolved to embrace the monastic life, and took the 
vows in the monastery of Citeaux, then renowned for the severity 
of its discipline ; and such was his extraordinary gift of personal 
influence at this early age, that he persuaded his father, his uncle, 
his five brothers, and many friends of high position, to renounce 
the world and accompany him to his ascetic retreat. The order 
of Citeaux now rapidly increased in fame and numbers ; and in 
1115 Bernard was placed by the abbot, St. Stephen Harding, at 
the head of a colony of monks who were to plant an offshoot of 
the community in a desolate district of the diocese of Langres, 
called the " Vallee d' Absinthe.'' Here Bernard founded the mon- 
astery of Clairvaux (Clara Yallis), of which he was the first abbot. 
The rule which he instituted surpassed in severity even that of 
Citeaux ; Clairvaux became a model of order, self-devotion, and 
saintliness ; and soon attracted universal admiration, not only in 
France, but throughout Europe. But it was impossible for a man 
like Bernard, however deep his passion for retirement, to live in 
isolation from secular concerns and interests. He was compelled, 
i;i spite of himself, to take a prominent part in all the great en- 
terpf-ises, controversies, and struggles of his time ; he became the 
coniidant of monarchs, the arbiter between rival popes, the con- 
ductor of the most delicate diplomatic negotiations, the champion 
of the orthodox faith, the instructor and guide of the clergy, the 
censor of public morals — in one Avord, the oracle of the age. 
Meanwhile he preserved an extreme simplicity of character and a 
rare disinterestedness of motive and conduct, declining in succes- 



CiiAi-. vir. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



129 



sion the archbishoprics of Milan, Genoa, and Reims. In the year 
1128 Bernard was employed to draw up the statutes of the newly- 
founded order of the Templars, which he submitted to the Coun- 
cil of Troyes. Next he found himself engaged in the schism oc- 
casioned by the double election of Innocent 11. and Anacletus ; 
and having pronounced at the Council of Etampes for the former, 
he proceeded to undertake missions to the courts of Normandy, 
Germany, and Italy, for the purpose of gaining over the sover- 
eigns to support that decision. In this he fully succeeded, and 
the schism was terminated in favor of Innocent in 1138. Besides 
his memorable controversy with Abclard, Bernard combated the 
heresy of Peter de Bruys, whose followers were named Petrobus- 
sians ; of Gilbert de la Poiree, bishop of Poitiers ; and of two sects 
called the Henricians and the Apostolici. In metaphysics he 
leaned to the opinions of the Realists ; in theology he followed 
the teaching of St. Ambrose and St. Augustine. Rejecting the dry 
dialectic method of the scholastic writers, he adhered to the ancient 
patristic models of Biblical exposition, and has thus acquired the 
honorable distinction of the "last of the Fathers." Worn out at 
length by his almost' superhuman laboi's, St. Bernard expired peace- 
fully at Clairvaux in August, 1153. He was canonized by Pope 
Alexander III. in 1174. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

This is a subject which can not be too care- 
fully examined by every one who desires to 
g:iin a just notion of the state of society in 
Fi-ance and in Europe during the earlier part 
of the Middle Ages. Among the vast mass 
of works which have been wi-itten to illustrate 
it, the following are some of those principally 
to be recommended to the student: Montes- 
quieu, Enprit des Loix, liv. xxx. and xxxi. ; 
Du (Jange, Glossar. v. Beneficiiim^ MUe.% 
Aloclis, Feuduni; Brussel, Usage general des 
Fiefs; Abbe de Mably, Observations sur 
I'Histoire de Francs; Guizot, Histoire de 
Civilisation en France, vol. iii., and Essais 
sur I Histoire de Prance, Ess. 4 ; Aug. Thier- 
ry, Lettres sur V Histoire de France ; Lehuij- 
roii. Institutions Merovingiennes, liv. 2, chap. 
3, 4, G, T ; Gilbert Stuart, Vieiu of Society in 
Europe; Robertson, Introdxiction to History 
of Charles V., and Notes to do., 6, 7, 9 ; Hal- 
lam, Middle Ages, vol. i., chap. 2, and Notes. 

The elementary germ of feudalism is dis- 
cernible among the barbarous German tribes 
before they crossed the Rhine. Tacitus tells 
us (De Morib. German., c. 14, 15) that it was 
the distinction and pride of tlie chieftains to 
be surrounded by a numerous band of youth- 
ful warriors, who were closely attached to 
their peraou and fortunes. Tacitus calls 
these retainers cornites, Cajsar ambacti and 



rlientes. They attended their leader in all 
his expeditions, defended him in battle, and 
reckoned it disgraceful to survive a conflict in 
which their master had lost his life. It was 
by the numbers, the valor, and the exploits of 
their followers that the chieftains outvied each 
other, and acquired consideration and influ- 
ence among other tribes. The chiefs, on 
their part, repaid the zeal of their adherents 
by presents of horses and weapons of war, and 
by the exercise of bountiful, though rude hos- 
pitality. We can hardly avoid recognizing 
in this description the origin of the relation- 
ship between the feudal seigneur and his vas- 
sals. 

Such a system of voluntary and arbitrary 
association was suited to the roving migratory 
habits of the Teutonic tribes beyond the 
Rhine ; it was necessarily much altered as 
soon as they had formed permanent settle- 
ments in Gaul, and obtained fixed rights of 
territorial property. Upon the establishment 
of the Frankish monarchy there arose, from 
the circumstances of the conquest and the re- 
sults wliich naturally followed it, three dis- 
tinct tenures of land throughout the kingdom 
— the allodial, the beneficiary or feudal, and 
the tributary or servile. 

I. The woril allod or alod, in Latin alodis, 
in French nlku, U of uncertain etymology. 
It has usually been thought to be compoiuided 

F 2 



130 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. VIL 



of all and odh, and would thus signify full or 
entire property ; but MM. Guizot, LehuGrou, 
and otliev writers derive it from the Teutonic 
I'liis, sors^ a lot; the division of conquered 
lands having been originally decided by lot. 
Allodial lands were those which the barbarian 
I'l-anks appropriated to themselves at the 
time of the great invasion, or in subsequent 
predatory incui-sions. The property thus dis- 
tributed among the victorious soldiers was 
held in absolute dominion, independently of 
any superior, and was disposed of at the will 
and pleasure of the possessor. With regard 
to the extent of the territories thus acquired, 
the practice seems to have varied in dilferent 
parts of Gaul ; the Burgundians and Visi- 
goths usurped two thirds of the conquered do- 
mains, leaving the remaining third to the 
Gallo- Roman proprietor; but this is probably 
to be understood, not of the whole length and 
breadth of the country, but of the lands im- 
mediately surrounding the locality in which 
each of the conquerors fixed his abode. As 
to the Franks, there is no reason to suppose 
tluit they made any such systematic parti- 
tion ; no mention of this is to be found in 
their laws, a fact which M. de Sismondi ex- 
plains by the consideration that they had not, 
like tlie Goths or Burgundians, invaded Gaul 
as a nation, but rather as an army, having 
left their wives and families beyond the Rhine, 
and that they were therefore less careful and 
regular in the distribution of the lands. 
There is no doubt, however, that they left a 
certain portion in the hands of the original 
proprietors, and these estate's were in like 
manner allodial — held by an independent ten- 
ure. Allodial domains, according to the lan- 
guage of the most ancient charters, were held 
only of God and the sword ; or, as it was oth- 
ern'ise expressed, owed no duty but to the sun. 

The allodial proprietors of the conquering 
race (Franci mgenui) were entirely exempt 
from tribute and all public burdens, with the 
exception of the indispensable duty of taking 
part in the military defense of the country, 
and in national warlike e.xpeditions. And 
even tliis appears to have been at first rather 
a matter of tacit consent than of positive le- 
gal obligation. This liability to personal serv- 
ice in the field was doubtless the ground of 
that famous provision of the law of the Salian 
Franks which excluded females from inherit- 
ing .any part of tlie "terra Salica," i. e., the 
domains originally acquired by the tribe at 
the epoch of the conquest. " De terra vero 
SalicA, in mulieres nulla portio hajreditatis 
transit ; sed hoc virilis sexus acquirit ; lioc 
est filii in ipsa hfereditate succedunt." (Lex 
Salica^ tit. Ixii.) In process of time this re- 
striction was very generally relaxed ; but in 
order to preserve the obligation of military 
service, the feudal superior then obtained tlie 
right to dispose of the daughter of his vassal 
in marriage, upon whiclr the duties inherent 
in the fief at once devolved upon her husband. 

The duty of personally bearing arms in de- 
fense of the state was first formally imposed 
on free landed proprietors by Cliarlemagne, 
who exacted, in various capitularies, that the 
possessor of five, four, or even of three maiisi 
should be bound to march, whon called upon, 



against the enemy. The precise extent of the 
iiiannus is unknown, and seems to have va- 
ried in different localities. In the case of two 
proprietors possessing each two r?ia7is2, the 
one was to join the army, while the half of his 
expenses was to be defrayed by the otlier who 
remained at home. Poorer freeholders were 
to combine together so as to furnish a soldier 
in the proportion of one out of three, or one 
out of six. These enactments were enforced 
under severe penalties of fine, confiscation, 
servitude, and even banishment. So strin- 
gent was the law of military service, that even 
the holders of ecclesiastical property wei-e 
originally not exempt from it. Bishops and 
abbots were bound to appear in arms at the 
head of their retainers, until Charlemagne, in 
S03, relieved them from this incongruous 
duty ; but on the express condition that they 
should send their vassals fully equipped to 
the camp when required, under the command 
of officers named by the emperor himself. 
By degrees, however, numerous exemptions 
were established ; in the reign of Charles the 
Bald, the levy en masse of all free landholders 
was limited to the case of a foreign invasion, 
when the whole strength of the empire was 
required in order to repel the enemy from the 
frontier. 

AVhether the Gallo-Roman freeholders, as 
well as the Frankg, were exempt from all trib- 
ute and taxation on account of their lands, is 
a question which has been much controverted. 
Gibbon (chap, xxxviii.) maintains the affirm- 
ative ; Montesquieu (liv. xxx., chap. 13) takes 
a similar view, as does also the Abbe de Ma- 
bly. Augustin Thierry (Recits des Temps 
Merov., vol. i.,p. 20S) inclines to think that 
the land-tax imposed under the empire was 
not abolished, but exchanged for a municipal 
tax. The point is discussed with great judg- 
ment and research by M. Lehuerou, who con- 
cludes, upon very sufficient grounds, that the 
Roman proprietors remained subject to the 
land-tax (impot fonder)^ as before the con- 
quest, at least up to the later times of the 
Merovingian dynasty. 

Several causes concurred to diminish con- 
siderably, in course of time, the number of al- 
lodial holdings. The independent proprietor, 
surrounded by a warlike and rapacious popu- 
lation, found it difficult to preserve his prop- 
erty from violence and pillage; he was thus 
led to seek protection from those superior to 
himself in wealth and power ; and in order 
to obtain this, he exchanged his allodial for a 
feudal tenure, holding his lands thencefor- 
ward not in absolute property, hut as a vassal, 
on condition of certain specified duties and 
services. This became the principle of a 
great social revolution, and ended in the com- 
plete establishment of the feudal system. Al- 
lodial property was also alienated to an im- 
mense extent by the habit of making extrav- 
agant donations to churches, abbeys, and re- 
ligious houses of all kinds. In the south of 
France, however, and especially in Langue- 
doc, the allodial tenure continued to prevail 
far more generally tlian in tlie north; it 
seems indeed to have been common througli- 
out those provinces long after the introduction 
of feudalism. 



Chap. VII. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



331 



II. A second form of pi'operty, coeval with 
the settlement of the Franks in Gaul, was 
that of the benejiciurn, or, to use the e-xpres- 
sion of later times, the fief. On taking pos- 
session of the conquered territory, the chief- 
tains, instead of rewarding their followers by 
gifts of war-horses and armor, or by festive 
entertainments, substituted grants of land 
detached from their own ample domains ; 
these were termed beneficia — a word to which 
a somewhat similar signification had been 
attached under the government of Imperial 
Eome. Hence there arose an important 
change in the mutual interests and relation- 
ship of the chiefs and their dependents. On 
the one hand the grantor of these lands, anx- 
ious to preserve and enlarge his own influ- 
ence, sought to abridge the periods for wliich 
the concessions were made — to resume tlxe 
benefices upon any favorable opportunity, 
and frequently upon unjust and frivolous pre- 
texts — and to multiply the feudal services 
and cliarges annexed to them. On tlie otli- 
er, the holders of benefices naturally aspired 
to shake oif the yoke of their superiors, and 
to become independent proprietors, exercising 
all the rights of separate sovereignty within 
their own boundaries. Bearing in mind tliese 
conflicting interests and tendencies, we shall 
not be surprised to find that from the earliest 
dates the benefices were held on various con- 
ditions, more or less advantageous either to 
tlie superior or to the vassal, as the case may 
be. 

Montesquieu, Eohertson, and other writers, 
consider that all benefices were at first revo- 
cable at the pleasure of the grantor; but 
this, as a matter of lerjal right., is clearly dis- 
proved by M. Guizot. Instances continually 
occur of the arbitrary resumption of benefices, 
but always on account of some delinquency, 
alleged or real, on the part of the holder. 
Breach of faith, failure to perform a stipulated 
service, treason, rebellion, or any injury done 
to the person, family, or interests of the su- 
perior, were accounted just grounds of for- 
feiture, and disputes and contests between 
l^rds and vassals upon accusations of this 
Icind were of constant recurrence. In the 
absence of any definite contract, it was im- 
plied and understood that the benefice would 
be enjoyed so long as the holder fulfilled the 
conditions attached to it ; but tliis engage- 
ment was often violated without scruple dur- 
ing the anarchy wliich prevailed in tlie ear- 
ly ages. Benefices, again, were sometimes 
granted for a specified term of years, in which 
case they were called 2^recaria. Such were 
those liestowed by Charles Martel and Pepin 
le Bref upon their vassals,- out of tlie ecclesi- 
astical domains ; these lands seem to have 
been seldom restored to the Cliurch, and be- 
came in course of time hereditaiy fiefs. A 
third form of benefice, and by far tlie most 
common in the early times of tlie Frank mon- 
archy, was that of si concession during tlie 
life of the tenant. This, as establishing tlie 
most direct personal relations between the lord 
and his vassal, is regarded by M. Leliuerou as 
the legitimate and normal tenure under the 
feudal system. These benefices were proba- 
bly conferred in consideration of some special 



service to be rendered to the grantor, and to 
be continued during tlie life of the holder; 
upon his death the contract became void, and 
the land accordingly reverted to the original 
jiossessor. In tliis case the yearly product or 
usufruct of the estate was all that was en- 
joyed by the feudal vassal. Such appears to 
have been the usual character of the benefices 
granted in the reign of Charlemagne— that 
of lifc-tena7icii. His successor, Louis \e IJo- 
bonnaire, endeavored to maintain tliem on 
the same footing, but the beneficiaries, hav- 
ing acquired this important extension of tlieir 
privileges, succeeded ere long in advancing a 
step farther ; charters were extorted from the 
feeble Louis, by which benefices became lie- 
reditarij, and the full proprietorship of lands 
was thus transferred from the lord to those 
who had hitherto been merely tenants. Tliis 
practice became moie frequent under Charles 
the Bald, and at length that monarch, at the 
Council of Kiersy-sur-Oise, A.D. 877, publish- 
ed an edict (already mentioned in the text, p. 
89) by which the hereditary transmission of 
benefices was expressly sanctioned and legal- 
ized. 

Hereditary benefices had no doubt become 
the general rule before the appearance of this 
edict, but it may be regarded as marking the 
epoch of the first formal recognition of the 
feudal system in its mature state. Particular 
instances, however, of the hereditary grant 
of lands are to be found even under the ear- 
lier Merovingians ; M. Guizot cites a convey- 
ance of this kind from the Formularies of 
Marculf, who wrote about A.D. COO, and re- 
fers also to some expressions in the Treaty 
of Andeley (A.D. 587), to an edict of Clotaire 
II. (A.D. 615), and to a law of the Visigoths, 
which contains the words " Quod si is qui 
hoc promeruit intestatur decessens, debitis 
secundum legem lieredibus res ipsa succes- 
sionis, ordine pertinebit." But even after 
this final change had been accomplished, it 
seems that the traditional sense of depend- 
ence on the superior lord was still so strong 
that the feudatories thought it necessary, be- 
fore taking possession of their property, to 
seek the confirmation of their rights from 
the representative of the original donor. 

Such were the various steps and vicissi- 
tudes by which benefices arrived at their ful- 
ly developed, and, properly, speaking, feudal 
state. The term fief (feodum, feudimi) be- 
an to be applied to benefices when they be- 
came hereditary, and first occurs in a capitu- 
lary of the reign of the Emperor Charles the 
Fat, A.D. 884. Different etymologies are 
given of this word ; that which seems most 
probable, and is adopted by Guizot, Thierry, 
Robertson, and Hallam, derives it from feo, 
salary or pay, and odh, property — implying 
that it was land conferred as a reward or rec- 
ompense of services. Others refer it to the 
Latin fides; others again, among whom is 
Lehuerou, prefer the Teutonic root fOden, 
nutrire. Sir F. Palgi'ave deduces it, ingen- 
iously, but with slight probability, from the 
Koman law-term mnphyteiisis. 

III. Tributary lands (in French terres en 
roture, terres acce.neeeis) were those which were 
cultivated by persons not the owners, and for 



132 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Chap. VII. 



the use of which they paid a fixed annual 
rent {census, cens) to the feudal proprietor, or 
to the government if the lands belonged to 
the domaine royal. This class of persons oc- 
cupied an intermediate position between the 
free landowners or gentry (ingema) and the 
serfs, approaching sometimes more nearly to 
the one, sometimes to the other, according to 
tlie diflei'ent terms and sers'ices by which 
their tirms were held. We find them men- 
tioned m the ancient records by a variety of 
names — tributarii, coloni, accolce, lidi or liti, 
villani, inquilini, fiscalini, etc. They were 
all in a state of vitlenage, but many of them 
seem to have enjoyed substantially the rights 
and privilege of freedom, while others, again, 
were not far removed from the condition of 
prsedial servitude. Great numbers of them 
were originally petty freeholders, who, una- 
ble to defend themselves from the prevailing 
violence and rapine of the times, had sur- 
rendered their persons and property, by the 
usage of recommendation already described, 
to some powerful seigneur, in return for which 
they obtained the important boon of his pro- 
tection. Henceforth they became tributa- 
ries ; they continued in the occupation of their 
lands, but by a stipendiary tenure, which ren- 
dered them liable to certain corvi'S or serv- 
ices toward the lord, more or less onerous as 
tlie case might be. But in general these 
tributaries were dependents of tlie rich land- 
ed iDroprietors, to whom they had leased por- 
tions of their estates for the purposes of cul- 
tivation ; tliey formed part of the niundiuin, 
or domestic liousehold of their superioi', and 
lived under his immediate patronage, in the 
possession of all civil rights. They were " ad- 
xcripti (jlebce" i. e., could not remove at will 
from the lands which they cultivated, nor 
could they be removed at the arbitrary pleas- 
ure of another ; hence they actiuired in course 
of time a sort of recognized vested right to 
the occupation of the farms on which they 
had been lung settled. The coloni were not 
liable to be summonsd to serve in war, the 
distinction of bearing arms being reserved 
exclusively to the noble classes. (Lehuerou, 
Instit. Caroling., p. 453.) Their social esti- 
mation was very low, according to the stand- 
ard established by the loeregild, or pecuniaiy 
composition for homicide, perliaps the fairest 
criterion of the notions of those times. The 
life of a Roman eolonus is rated by the Salian 
ode oul}' at 45 solidi; this was afterward 
raised by two c ipitularies of Charlemagne to 
100 solidi. 

On all tliese estates there were multitudes 
of serfs or slaves, occupying the lowest step 
of the social scale. During the early times 
of the Frank domination the condition of the 
slave was, as it had been under the Roman 
rule, one of the most abject degradation. 
They were the absolute property or chattels 
of their masters, and entirely destitute of 
personal, social, and political rights. '•'•The 
lord," says Beaumanoir (Coutunie de Btau- 
VMsis), "may take from them all they have, 
and may imprison them as often as he pleases, 
whether justly or wrongfully, liaviug no ac- 
count to render of his conduct to any but 
God." During the tenth and eleventh cen- 



turies, however, the system of slavery appears 
to have undergoue a gradual alteration, and 
was far more leniently administered. Tlie be- 
nign influence of the church was powerfully 
exerted in favor of the serfs, and on the ec- 
clesiastical domains their manumission be- 
came of very frequent occurrence. At length 
the ordinance of Louis llutin, in 1315, gave 
the signal for the complete abolition of do- 
mestic and prsedial servitude. Relics of this 
odious system sui-vived nevertheless through 
the whole period of the absolute monarchy, 
and many of the ancient servile corvees were 
only suppressed by the Revolution of 17S9. 

Tlie necessity of obtaining adequate de- 
fense for person and property in an age of 
weak government, political confusion, and 
scanty civilization, lies at the root of the en- 
tire system of feudalism. The feudal con- 
tract was a mutual guarantee of security both 
to lord and vassal, and tended manifestly to 
their common advantage. The I'apid exten- 
sion of the system during the ninth and tenth 
centuries proves that this was fully appreci- 
ated, and it is strikingly illustrated by the 
singular fact that even the independent allo- 
dial proprietors eventually found it desirable 
to excliange their freeholds for feudal tenures, 
in order to secure the superior advantages 
annexed to them. This was done by an ex- 
tension of the ancient practice of Commenda- 
tion so often referred to. The allodial pro- 
prietor presented himself before tlie king, or 
other powerful seigneur whose protection he 
wished to obtain, holding in his hand a clod 
of turf or the branch of a tree, and surren- 
dered his freehold, which v/as immediately 
restored to him to enjoy and dispose of as be- 
fore, but subject to the conditions and obliga- 
tions, and with all the attendant benefits, of a 
feudal tenure. When this remarkable change 
Jiad been accomplished, toward the close of 
the ninth century, tlie whole country, 'with the 
exceiition of certain districts in the south, be- 
came feudal. France presented a vast asso- 
ciation or hierarchy of fief-holders, descend- 
ing by a regularly graduated subordination 
from the king to the most inconsiderable vas- 
sal. For it must be observed that, whereas 
at first it was only the sovereign and the 
Avealthiest nobles who conferred fiefs, their 
example was soon imitated by their inferiors; 
smaller fiefs were created out of the larger, 
and granted on the same conditions, so that 
the same individual might be at once a suze- 
rain with regard to his vassals and a vassal 
witli reg.ird to his suzerain. This is the mean- 
ing of the French terms arrifre Ji"/ and ar- 
riere vas.-^al ; it is expressed in Fnglish by the 
■Kord sub-in/eudalion. The King of France 
himself was one of the ^•assals of the Abbey 
of St. Denis, for the fief of the Vexin; it was 
in his quality of Count of Vexin that he pos- 
sessed the privilege of bearing the oriflamme, 
which was the sacred banner of that great 
monastic foundation. The Duke of Burgun- 
dy in like manner owed homage for a fief to 
the Bishop of Langres. Thirty-two knights 
bannerets were va-sals to the Count of Then- 
ars ; the count, in his turn, was under the 
obligations of fealty and military service to 
the Count of Anjou ; while the Count of Anjou 



Chap. VII. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



133 



held his possessions as a vassal of the crown 
of France. 

Another important feature of the feudal 
system was tliat which M. Guizot describes as 
the '■'■fusion of novereignt.ij loith proj^erty ;" 
in otlier words, the political and administra- 
tive power possessed by the holders of fiefs 
within their own domains. The provincial 
governors, the counts and dukes, having ob- 
tained from the weakness of the later Carlo 
vingian monarchs tire hereditary transmission 
of their benefices, proceeded to usurp the per- 
petuity of their offices. Each district became 
a separate independent jurisdiction, an ini- 
jjeriuin in imperio, the nobles exercising in 
full sovereignty all those magisterial, judi- 
cial, and military functions which tlieir an- 
cestors had originally derived from the crown. 
As in the case of sub-infeudation, their ex- 
ample was followed by their inferiors, and 
the great proprietors throughout the country 
gradually established their claim to all the 
chief prerogatives of sovereignty within their 
several boundaries. At the accession of Hugh 
Capet there were no less than 150 seigneurs 
who possessed the right to coin money, to 
make private war, to impose taxes and laws, 
and to judge in the last resort in criminal 
causes of all kinds. The direct and inevita- 
ble consequence of such a state of things was 
to enfeeble, and almost to annihilate, all cen- 
tral dynastic authority. Under the last Car- 
lovingians the domaine royal consisted only 
of the city of Laon and a small surrounding 
district; Hugh Capet augmented it by the 
addition of the Duchy of France ; but even 
then he possessed little real power except as 
sovereign of liis own fief; of his immediate 
vassals, the so-called "great feudatories" of 
NoiTnand}', Burgundy, Champagne, Flanders, 
and Toulouse, there was not one who was not 
at least his equal in extent and importance 
of territor)', and their subordination to the 
crown, as history abundantly testifies, exist- 
ed I'ather in theory and name than in reality. 
Over the lesser feudatories, again, the sov- 
ereign could exercise no efficient control, be- 
cause they could only be reached through 
their immediate superiors. Hence it appears 
that, although the feudal system was an ad- 
mirable institution for self-protection against 
barbarous violence, and although its laws and 
usages acted as a social bond which in many 
respects proved higiily beneficial to Europe, 
yet it always contained within itself a princi- 
ple of weakness and decadence. The nomin- 
ally sovereign power was incapable of acting 
effectively through all the ranks and degrees 
of society, so as to insure the riglits and lib- 
ci'ties of all alike, both weak and strong. 
The tendency ( f each lord and of each fief 
was to be isolated from all others, and to ful- 
fill all the functions of government individu- 
ally and independently. In the absence of 
any central monarchical power, the relations 
of the feudal potentates to each other were 
seldom or never satisfactory; jealausie«^, en- 
croachments, oppression, fierce and bloody 
quarrels, were of continual occurrence. And 
from the moment when the crown at length 
became strong enough to assert its superiority 
and enforce obedience to its decrees through 



all gradations of tlie feudal hierarchy, from 
that moment we find that feudalism was 
shaken to its foundations, and soon began to 
verge toward its fall. 

The feudal relationship was constituted by 
the performance of certain prescribed cere- 
monies, namely, (1) homage, (2) fealty, and 
(3) investiture. In doing homage (homagi- 
um., honiinium) the vassal knelt, bare-head- 
ed, before the seigneur without belt, sword, 
or spurs, and, placing his hands in his, repeat- 
ed the words, " I become your man from this 
day forth, of life and limb, and will keep faith 
to you for the lands I claim to hold of you." 
Homage liege was distinguished from homage 
.swyjic, the latter from being less stringent 
than the former, and leaving the vassal at 
liberty to withdraw from his lord's obedience 
by renouncing his fief. Fealty (ydclitas) was 
an engagement by oath on the part of the ten- 
ant to perform duly the conditions and serv- 
ices by which the fief was held. Investiture 
consisted in the lord's delivering to the vas- 
sal a clod of turf, a branch of a tree, a hand- 
ful of earth, or some other such symbolical 
object, by which act the vassal was put in 
actual personal possession of his feudal prop- 
erty. Theuceforward cimmenced the recip- 
rocal obligations between the contracting par- 
ties. 

These obligations comprised both moral du- 
ties and material services. The m oral duties 
of a vassal were to counsel his lord to the best 
of his ability when required ; to keep his se- 
crets faithfully; neither to injure him, nor to 
suffer others to injure him, in his person, his 
honor, his family, or his property; to succor 
him in danger, to lend him his horse when 
dismounted in battle, and to take his place as 
a hostage if made prisoner. Of the material . 
obligations the most important was that of 
military service. The duration and other 
circumstances of this service varied accord- 
ing to the extent and importance of the fief. 
Ordinarily sixty da5's, but in many cases for- 
ty, thirty, and even less, was the period dur- 
ing which the vassal was bound to keep the 
field; on its expiration he was at liberty to 
return home, a right which he seldom failed 
to exercise, even though it might be on tho 
eve of a battle. Many fiefs also entailed the 
obligation of providing a certain number of 
men-at-arms, to be maintained at the expenso 
of the holder during the campaign. Tho 
rights of fiance (fid^icia) and of justice sig- 
nified the duty incumbent on the vassal of 
recognizing the jurisdiction of his superior, 
of attending in his court on demand, of assist- 
ing him in the administration of justice and 
in the execution of the sentence pronounced. 

The holders of fiefs were likewise subject 1 1 
various and sometimes heavy contribution.] 
in money. Feudal aids (mixilia) were cer- 
tain sums payable to the seigneur on parties 
ular occasions, viz. : (1) Toward paying his 
ransom when he had been taken prisoner in 
battle; (2) Toward his equipment and ex- 
penses when he went in pilgrimage to the 
Holy Land ; (.'1) At the marriage of his elde-t 
daughter, and (-1) when his eldest son received 
the honor of knighthoorl. A relief (relcviuni, 
relevamentitm) was a sum of money payable 



134 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. VII. 



by the heir of ii fief vacated by death, before 
he could enter on the possession of his prop- 
erty. If a vassal sold his flef, a payment, 
generally equivalent to one year's revenue, 
was due to the superior lord from the pur- 
chaser before taking possession. Tlie practice 
of disposing of fiefs by sale was originally 
prohibited, but in later times was connived 
at or permitted as a measure of convenience, 
and was thus naturally used by the suzerain 
as an opportunity of extorting additional pe- 
cuniary advantage. Feudal estates were also 
liable tp forfeiture (forisfaclura) in the event 
of non-fultiUment of the specified obligations 
of the tenure, or in case of treason or other 
gross misbehavior on the part of the tenant, 
or in case of the death of the vassal n'ithout 
heirs male. Besides these there were two 
other feudal "•incidents," namely, ivardship 
or garde noble, which gave the suzerain all 
the rights of a guardian during the minority 
of his vassal, including the management of his 
domains and the disposal of the revenue ; and 
marriage (inaritagium), or the light of pre- 
senting to the heiress of a fief three men of 
suitable birtli and condition, of whom she 
was compelled to select one for her husband. 
'Tlie only alternative by which the heiress 
could escape this was by paying to the lord a 
fee equal in amount to that which he would 
have received from the successful suitor for 
her hand; for it was the custom to jnirchase 
of the suzerain an alliance which involved 
the possession of a fief^ 

Having once fulfilled these obligations, the 
feudal vassal became almost absolute master 
within his own domains, giving laws to his 
dependents, administering justice, and exer- 
cising all tlie functions of an independent 
sovereign. So long as he committed no posi- 
tive breach of tlie feudal contract, he was re- 
sponsible to none ; in case of such an infrac- 
tion, appeal might be made against him to 
the court of the superior lord. 

The suzerain, on his part, was bound to 
protect and defend his vassal in the enjoy- 
ment of liis fief, with all tlie rights, privileges, 
and emoluments attached to it. All com- 
plaints and disputes between vassals were 
brought before the feudal court of the seign- 
eur. The jurisdiction belonging to these 
courts were of different degrees of import- 
ance, which were distinguished as haute, 
inojieniie, and 6as.se justice. The first alone 
conferred the right of passing sentences of 
capital punishment ; many of the smaller 
seigneurial courts possessed only the second 
and third. All the vassals holding of the 
f-ame suzerain sat in tliese courts as assess- 
ors; the right of trial by jjecrs (jmres) be- 
ing one of the most essential principles of 
feudalism. In the case of a contest between 
a vassal and his seigneur, the process took 
place, not in the local court, but in the court 
■ of the superior lord, wliicli had appellate ju- 
risdiction in such cases. But the justice dis- 
pensed by these feudal tribunals was for many 
reasons very imperfect and unsatisfactory; 
and in order to remedy this defect, the rude 
manners of the times permitted the expedient 
of the judicial combat, or appeal to the judg- 
ment of God, and the still more barbarous 



practice o{ private roar. (See on these points 
Dr. Kobertson's Notes to the History of 
Charles V., Notes 21 and 22.) These cus- 
toms, which in course of time produced abuses 
of the most serious and dangerous kind, were 
gradually restrained and suppressed by the 
wise legislation of Philip Augustus, Saint Lou- 
is, and Philip the Fair. 

The principal causes which led eventually 
to the decjy and extinction of feudalism were, 
(I.) The extension of the domaine royal, and 
consequently of the direct authority and ju- 
risdiction of the crown. In proportion as 
royalty revived under the auspices of Louis 
VL, Philip Augustus, and their successors, it 
exercised a power distinct from and inde- 
pendent of the feudal potentates, an authori- 
ty which they could not ignore or disallow, 
an appellate jurisdiction to which they found 
themselves compelled to submit. The pro- 
ceedings of Philip Augustus against John 
of England are a memorable proof of the 
strength and unity which the central gov- 
ernment had already acquired in his hands. 
The legislative and judicial powers of the 
crown increased considerably during the 
reign of Saint Louis, and the change became 
still more remarkable under Philip the Fair, 
who instituted a regular judicial order — th^ 
" legistes" — a class of magistrates specially 
trained for the administration of justice. 
From this date the royal courts, or parlia- 
ments as they began to be called, took cogni- 
zance of all causes, and enforced their judg- 
ments throughout tlie whole extent of the 
kingdom, superseding, and by degrees annul- 
ling the jurisdiction of the feudal seigneurs. 

(II.) The enfranchisement of the communes. 
This, by conferring on the towns charters of 
incorporation conveying extensive privileges 
and exemptions, greatly improved and ele- 
vated the condition of the bourgeoisie, which 
by degrees became an effectual coimterpoise 
to the overbearing tyranny of the feudal no- 
bles. Personal liberty and mutual protection 
were thus guaranteed independently of the 
feudal confederation. "Until then," says 
Sir J. Steplien, 'Hhe population of France had 
been composed of two great antagonist pow- 
ers — the uobles and the roturiers; the one 
enjoying all the privileges of freedom, the 
other sustaining all the burdens-of servitude. 
But when at length the bourgeois were inter- 
posed between the tfl'o as a mediating body, 
combining in tlieir own persons the rights 
and the obligations of each, they at once miti- 
gated the sternness of the dominant authority 
and the sufferings of the subject multitude. 
Each boui'g formed a species of independent 
commonwealth within the kingdom ; and such 
commonwealths, when extended throughout 
the whole compass of it, acted every where as 
germs from which the national government 
was to derive its growth, or as moulds by 
which it was to receive its future form and 
cliaracter." 

(III.) The Crusades. These memorable 
expeditions tended in many ways to circum- 
scribe the power of the territorial aristocracy. 
They contributed to augment the importance 
of the municipal communes, whicli were al- 
ways iii antagonism to the feudal nobility. 



Chap. VII. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



135 



Wealth and capital were in the hands of the 
industrious and enterprising citizen, and it 
vas to him that the knightly crusader was 
obliged to apply to obtain the means of his 
equipment for the Holy Land. Possessed of 
the all-important power of the purse, the 
bourgeois improved their advantage without 
scruple. Immunities of all kinds were pur- 
chased at an easy rate from the needy bar- 
ons ; feudal estates were disposed of at prices 
far below their real value, property of eveiy 
description changed hands to an enormous 
extent throughout France, and invariably to 
the damage of the great feudal landholder. 
" The estates of the barons were dissipated,'' 
says Gibbon, "and their race was often ex- 
tinguished, in these costly and perilous expe- 
ditions. Their poverty extorted from their 
pride those cliarters of freedom which un- 
locked the fetters of the slave, secured the 
farm of the peasant and the shop of the arti- 
ficer, and gradually restored a substance and 
a soul to the most numerous and useful part 
of the community. The conflagration which 
destroyed the tall and barren trees of the 
forest gave air and scope to the vegetation 
of the emaller and nutritive plants of the 



soil." Decline and Fall^ vol. vii., p. 349, edit. 
Smith. 

(IV.) The practice of emi^loying large bod- 
ies of mercenary soldiers, generally foreign- 
ers, in substitution for the feudal militaiy 
tenants, and, eventually, the institution of a 
regular utanding army paid by the state. 
These innovations, so contrary to the genius 
and fundamental principle of feudalism, com- 
pleted the overthrow of the system. He who 
could command a powerful force of well-dis- 
ciplined mercenaries was more than a match 
for the greatest of the feudal seigneurs. It 
was thus that Philip Augustus overcame his 
vassal John of Normandy. The practice was 
greatly extended in succeeding reigns, and in 
proportion to its increase the feudal military 
tenure fell into general discredit, and was felt 
to be meaningless, burdensome, and useless. 
At length, after the creation of the "conipag- 
nies d'ordonnance" by Charles VII., in 1444, 
the military service attached to the liefs was, 
almost of necessity, superseded and abolished 
by the new organization ; and with the dis- 
appearance of this its main origin.al princi- 
ple, the other institutions of feudalism quick- 
ly lost their efficacy and became obsolete. 




/ / / 'It^^' 

Chtiteau Gaillard, built by Richard Cceur de Lion— on the Seine. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF LOUIS VII. TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS VIH. 
A.-D. 1137-1226. 

§ 1 . Accession of Louis VII. ; Suger, Abbot of St. Denis ; Hostilities in 
Champagne and Normand}'. § 2- Louis departs on the second Crusade; 
Faihire of the Crusade. § 3. Retirement and Death of the Abbot Suger; 
Divorce of Queen Eleanora. § 4. Rivalry between Louis VII. and Hen- 
ry II. of England; Birth of Philip Augustus. § 5. Archbishop Becket 
in France. § 6. Louis supports the Rebellion of the English Princes ; 
Death of Louis VII. § 7. Accession of Philip Augustus ; his Marriage 
with Isabella of Hainault. § 8. Disputes with England ; Capture of Je- 
rusalem by the Saracens ; Philip assumes the Cross. § 9. The third Cru- 
sade ; Rivalry between Philip and Richard Cceur de Lion ; Siege of St. 
Jean d'Acre ; Return of Philip to France. § 10. Philip leagues with 
John against King Richard; Death of Richard. § 11. Philip supports 
Arthur of Brittany against John ; Agnes de Me'ran ; France laid under 
an Interdict by Innocent III. ; Philip invades Normandy ; Murder of 
Arthur of Brittany. § 12. Philip dispossesses John of Normandy, Poitou, 
and Touraine ; he acquires Vermandois, Artois, and Auvergne. § 13. 
The Albigensian War; Simon cle Montfort. § 14. Philip Augustus in- 
vades Flanders ; Victory of Bouvines. § 15. Expedition of Prince Louis 
to England; its Failure; Renewal of War in Languedoc. § 16. Admin- 
istration of Philip Augustus; his Death; the fourth Crusade ; Latin Con- 
quest of Constantinople. § 17. Reign of Louis VIII. ; War with En- 
gland ; Expedition against Raymond of Toulouse ; Death of the King. 

§ 1. Louis VII., surnamed Le Jkune, 1137-1180. — Few sov- 
ereigns have ascended the throne under fjiirer auspices than Louis 
VII. ; but, unfortunately, he was not a prince of great capacity 



A.D. 1141-1144. STEUGGLES FOR POWER. I37 

or strong good sense ; his character was feeble, capricious, and pas- 
sionate. His chief counselors Avere the Abbot Suger, and Gosse- 
lin, bishop of Soissons : the former, one of the ablest statesmen 
that France has produced, was of invaluable service during the 
earlier part of his reign. 

Nothing remarkable is recorded of the first few years after his 
accession, but in 1141 the king became involved in a serious quai- 
rel with the See of Rome. The archbishopric of Bourges being 
then vacant, Pope Innocent II. thought fit to nominate to the see 
Peter de la Chatre, a relative of one of the great officers of the 
pontifical court. Louis, who had presented another candidate to 
the chapter, indignantly declared that while he lived the Pope's 
nominee should never be archbishop, and gave orders for a fresh 
election. Louis was now excommunicated by the Pope, and an 
interdict laid upon every place where he might sojourn. This 
sentence remained in force for the space of three years, the royal 
presence in any town being instantly followed by the suspension 
of all offices of Divine service. The Pope being supported in this 
affair by Thibald, count of Champagne, hostilities broke out in 
1142 between the count and Louis; the Frencli ravaged the ter- 
ritory of Champagne ; the fortified town of Vitry was taken by 
assault and set on fire, and no less than 1300 of the helpless in- 
habitants, who had taken refuge in the principal church, perished 
in the flames. This catastrophe inspired Louis with poignant re- 
morse ; he hastened to treat with Thibald, and obtained absolu- 
tion in 1144 from Celestine II., the successor of Innocent, upon 
condition of establishing Pierre de la Chatre in peaceable posses- 
sion of his see. 

The war continued in Normandy between the rival houses of 
Anjou and Blois. Louis declared in favor of Geoffrey Plantage- 
net, and thus turned the scale against Stephen, whose utmost ef- 
forts scarcely sufficed to maintain his hold upon England. In 
1144 Geoffrey entered Rouen in triumph, and received from Louis 
the investiture of the duchy of Normandy. The strife after this 
was confined to England, where the land was desolated with bloody 
contests between the partisans of the Empress Maude and the ar- 
mies of King Stephen. In the end a compromise was effected : 
Stephen retained tlie crown of England for his life ; Geofii-ey was 
recognized as Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, Maine, and 
Touraine. The succession to the English throne was settled upon 
the eldest son of Maude and Geoffrey ; the second sou was to in- 
herit the Continental possessions. 

§ 2. Still suffering from the reproaches of conscience on account 
of the disaster of Vitry, Louis began to think seriously of adopting 
the grand remedy prescribed by the usage of the time? — a pilgrim- 



138 LOUIS VII. Chap. VIII. 

age to the Holy Land. Circumstances occurred to favor the de- 
sign. The city of Edessa had lately been captured and sacked by 
the Sultan of Aleppo (Dec, 25, 1144); and the Christians, after 
suffering tremendous loss, had been expelled from this part of their 
dominions in the East. This calamity spread dismay throughout 
the European settlements in Palestine ; great fears were enter- 
tained for the safety of the kingdom of Jerusalem ; and embassa- 
dors wei-e dispatched in haste to the various states of the West, 
especially to France, to represent the importance of the emergency, 
and make urgent demands for assistance. The appeal reawaken- 
ed the religious sympathies of Christendom ; Pope Eugenius III. 
addressed an eloquent letter to the King of France, exhorting him 
and his people to take up arms immediately for the defense of the 
Holy Sepulchre and the relief of their brethren — a summons which 
Louis, already more than half resolved upon the step, received with 
the utmost satisfaction. The Pope delegated his authority to one 
Avhose influence both in Church and State was at that time para- 
mount in France, if not in Europe — to Bernai'd of Clairvaux. 
Bernard became the apostle of the Second Crusade, and fulfilled 
the mission with zeal and enthusiasm not inferior to that of his 
predecessor, the hermit of Picardy, Avhile in genius, intellectual 
gifts, and learned acquirements he was infinitely superior. At his 
suggestion a great national council was convoked at Vezelai, in 
Burgundy, for the feast of Easter, 1146. Such was the concourse 
of people of all ranks and classes who thronged to the rendezvous, 
that it was impossible to hold the proceedings within the Avails 
of the town. A platform was erected at the foot of the lofty hill 
on Avhich Vezelai stands ; here Louis, wearing the rcj'al robes, 
made his appearance, Avith the holy Bernard at his side ; and the 
latter, after reading the brief by which he Avas appointed to act as 
the Pope's representative, addressed the assembled multitude in a 
vehement and impassioned harangue, the conclusion of Avhich Avas 
drowned in resounding cries of " The cross! the cross!" The 
king, deeply moved, knelt at the feet of the Pope's legate, and re- 
ceived the cross from his hand ; Queen Eleanora Avas the next to 
assume the sacred emblem ; and the example of the sovereigns 
Avas eagerly folloAved by a brilliant throng of nobles. The crowd 
of volunteers of lower degree Avas prodigious. Beniard and his 
assistant monks, after distributing among them a vast quantity of 
crosses prepared beforehand, Avere obliged to tear their garments 
to supply the demand. 

The exertions of Bernard Avere not confined to France : he pro- 
ceeded to Germany, Avhere his overpoAvei'ing eloquence prevailed 
upon the Emperor Conrad to join the ranks of tlie Crusaders, to- 
gether Avith his nephew Frederick (afterward emperor), Guelf, 



A.D. 1147, SECOND CEUSADE. " I39 

count of Bavaria, and other distinguished princes of the empire, 
lieturning to France, Bernard attended the Council of Etampes 
. in February, 1147 : here the last arrangements were made for the 
approaching expedition, and a council of regency was appointed 
for the administration of the kingdom, consisting of the Abbot 
Suger, the Count of Vermandois, and the Archbishop of Reims. 
Pope Eugenius visited Paris at Easter ; from his hands the king 
received the pilgrim's staff and wallet in the abbey of St. Denis, 
together with the apostolic benediction ; and shortly afterward 
proceeded to Metz, where he put himself at the head of the cru- 
sading army, numbering upward of 100,000 barons, knights, and 
fighting men, besides a vast multitude of non-combatant pilgrims. 
The march commenced immediately ; Louis crossed the Ehine at 
Worms, and the Danube at Katisbon ; traversed the plains of 
Hungarj^, and entered the territories of the Eastern Empire. 
Here the Crusaders, instead of meeting with cordial sympathy 
and support, were treated with insolence, treachery, and violence. 
The Emperor Manuel Comnenus, like most of his family, enter- 
tained a profound distrust and hatred of the Franks ; and under 
the mask of great outward respect and friendship, labored in every ^ 
way to cripple, embarrass, and ruin the enterprise which had 
brought them to his shores. The whole expedition was one series 
of disasters. After suffering a severe defeat from the Turks in 
the defiles of Phrygia, not far from Laodicea, the Crusaders gain- 
ed the sea-port of Satalia, or Attalia, in Pamphylia. Here Louis, 
with his queen and the principal barons, embarked for Syria, leav- 
in« the bulk of his forces under the command of the Counts of 
Flanders and Bourbon. He landed in safety at the mouth of the 
Orontes, and was there received by Raymond of Poitiers, prince 
of Antioch, who conducted him to his capital. 

The fate of the main body of the Crusaders was most deplora- 
ble : they never reached the shores of Palestine ; abandoned by 
their leaders, they found themselves cooped up between the town 
of Satalia (the gates of which were closed against them by the 
Greek governor), the Turkish army, and the sea. Attacked in 
this desperate position, thousands perished beneath the sabres of 
the Turks ; a large division sought safety in flight, but were ovei-- 
taken at a short distance and totally exterminated ; upward of 
3000 embraced the Mdssulman faith ; great numbers were sold 
into slavery. 

The farther details of this expedition are in every way discred- 
itable and inglorious. Louis made a lengthened sojourn at An- 
tioch, but quitted it abruptly on discovering (as is alleged) an in- 
timacy between Queen Eleanora and Prince Raymond altogether 
unbecoming their relationship as uncle and niece. He reached 



140 LOUIS Vn. CiiAP.VIIL 

Jerusalem in the spring of 1148, and accomplished the vow of his 
pilgrimage in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Emperor 
Conrad had arrived from Constantinople some time befox-e, and 
the two monarchs mingled their tears of condolence over their 
common misfortunes. After being repulsed before the walls of 
Damascus, no farther warlike operations were attempted. Louis 
lingered in the Holy Land for a whole year, ashamed and afraid 
to reappear in his kingdom. At length, overcome by the pressing 
remonstrances and solicitations of the wise and faithful Suger, he 
returned to France in 1149, and disembarked in Provence, attend- 
ed by a scanty escort of 200 or 300 knights, the wreck of that 
mighty and magnificent host with which, somewhat more than 
two years before, he had mai'ched from Italy. 

§ 3. The disastrous issue of this crusade was a heavy blow to 
the reputation of St. Bernard, who had so confidently predicted 
its success, and was even said to have wrought miracles in attes- 
tation of his mission. The complaints against him were loud, 
bitter, and universal; and he himself acknowledged his confusion 
at this inexplicable visitation of Divine Providence. He attribu- 
ted it to the scandalous vices of the Crusaders, comparing them 
to the Jews of old, to whom God's prophet had solemnly promised 
the enjoyment of the land of Canaan, but who were nevertheless 
" overthrown in the wilderness" on account of their sins and un- 
belief 

On the other hand, the patriotic Avisdom of the Abbot Suger 
was now fully appreciated. He had always been strongly opposed 
to the project of the crusade, and did his utmost to dissuade 4iis 
master from embarking in it. During the king's absence he de- 
voted himself, with admirable zeal and fidelity, to the duties of his 
administration ; his firmness overawed the turbulent and lawless, 
and repressed all attempts to disturb the public order ; he great- 
ly improved the royal castles and domains, exercised a judicious 
financial economy, and restored the kingdom to the hands of Louis 
in a condition of increasing strength and prosperity. Suger retired 
contentedly to his monastery of St. Denis, bearing with him the 
glorious title of the " Father of his Country." It is singular that 
he should have been occupied at the close of his life in organizing 
a new expedition for the relief of the sufifering Christians in the 
East : he raised vast sums of money for this purpose, and designed 
to undertake in person the leadership of the crusade, but died in 
the midst of his preparations, January 13, 1152. 

The loss of this excellent minister was soon followed by the 
great political mistake of Louis VII. — his divorce of Queen Elea- 
noi'a. Suger, to Avhom the king confided his grounds of complaint 
against his wife, had entreated him, if possible, to conceal and over- 



A.D. 1152-1158. RIVALRY BETWEEN LOUIS VII. AND HENRY II. 14 1 

look her misconduct ; but after their return from Palestine the 
disunion between the royal pair became more and more marked 
and serious, until at length it pi'oceeded to an open rupture. The 
high-spirited. Eleanora stigmatized her feeble husband as " a monk 
rather than a monarch;" and at the Council of Beaugency, in 
March, 1152, both parties agreed to demand a separation, the con- 
venient plea of affinity being put forward to cover their real mo- 
tives. The council pronounced the marriage null and void ; Elea- 
nora resumed her hereditary possessions as Duchess of Aquitaine ; 
and the crown of France was thus dismembered at one stroke of 
more than half its territories. Nor was this the full extent of 
the damage : before six weeks had elapsed, the divorced queen 
bestowed her hand upon Henry Plantagenet, duke of Normandy 
and count of Anjou ; and Louis had the mortification to see the 
broad domains he had just lost pass into the hands of a rival and 
iiostile family, already possessed of two of the most important 
provinces of France. Two years later (Oct. 25, 1154), Henry suc- 
ceeded, by the death of Stephen, to the throne of England, and 
became at once the most powerful sovereign of Europe. 

§ 4. These ciraumstances laid the foundation of a mutual en- 
mity between the two princes, which filled up the remainder of 
their lives. Almost immediately after the marriage Louis made 
an attack upon Normandy. Henry, hoAvever, was on his guard, 
and defended himself with resolution and success ; a truce Avas 
soon arranged, and the politic Henry gratified the weak vanity of 
Louis by doing homage to him for his new acquisitions in Aqui- 
taine. In 1156 the ceremony of homage was repeated at Rouen ; 
and Louis was now induced to abandon the cause of Llenry's 
younger brother Geoffrey, who, by the terms of their father's will, 
ought to have succeeded to the counties of Anjou and Maine. 
By the same system of hypocritical deference to his suzerain, 
Henry obtained possession, in 1158, of the county of Nantes, and 
established his right of feudal lordship over the duchy of Brittany ; 
and shortly afterward he arranged with Louis a scheme of alliance 
between their houses, by betrothing his son Henry, a child of four 
years old, to the infant Princess Margaret, daughter of Louis by 
his second wife, Constance of Castile. Louis was no match for 
such an accomplished intriguer ; and the result of all their dis- 
putes was the same ; Henry, without driving matters to extremity 
against his rival, always contrived to secure to himself some decid- 
ed and solid advantage. 

Louis VH. Avas still destitute of male issue ; and having been 
again left a AvidoAver, he espoused about the same time his third 
Avife, Alice, sister of the Count of Champagne. This princess, to 
the unfeigned joy of the king and the nation, gave birth, on the 



142 LOUIS VII. Chap. VIII, 

22cl of August, 1165, to a prince, who received the name of Philip : 
he was welcomed as the " Dieu-donne," and became afterward 
the renowned Philip Augustus. 

§ 5. The conflict between Henry and Archbishop Becket be- 
came a fresh source of discord and hostility between France and 
England. When the archbishop fled to France, the king wrote to 
request that Louis would not countenance or harbor him. Louis, 
well pleased with so fair an opportunity of annoying his rival, re- 
turned for answer that he considered Becket illegally deposed, 
and would never abandon him. He received him at Soissons with 
distinguished honor, and assigned him for his residence the abbey 
of Pontigny, near Auxerre. A petty war ensued, with disadvan- 
tage to Louis ; and although the Counts of Poitou, Marche, and 
Angouleme combined with him against Henry, they found them- 
selves worsted in every encounter. Terms of peace were at length 
agreed upon in 1169, and the two monarchs had an interview at 
Montmirail, whither Becket also repaired, and, under certain res- 
ervations, offered to make submission to his sovereign. Such, 
however, was his arrogance and stubbornness of demeanor that it 
was not till 1170 that a definite arrangement .was concluded, in 
consequence of which Becket took his departure for England to 
resume possession of his see. Within a month afterward this in- 
flexible prelate was barbarously murdered before the altar of Can- 
terbury cathedral. 

The tidings of the fearful tragedy w^ere received in France with 
universal consternation and horror. Louis, in the height of his 
indignation, wrote to demand of the Pope that the sword of St. 
Peter should be unsheathed to avenge the martyr of Canterbury. 
An interdict was immediately laid on all the Continental posses- 
sions of the King of England ; and it was only with extreme diffi- 
culty, and at the expense of abject humiliation, that Henry was 
enabled to appease the storm, 

§ 6. The animosity of Louis against Henry now became more 
and more bitter and unscrupulous ; and there can be no doubt 
that he culpably fomented, if he did not originate, the unnatural 
rebellion soon afterward raised against him by Queen Eleanora 
and the three young princes, Henry, Geoffrey, and Eicliard. But, 
when hostilities commenced, the feeble nature of Louis soon quail- 
ed, as usual, before the genius, firmness, and vigor of his great an- 
tagonist, and in little more than a year he was glad to conclude 
peace with the English king. 

Shortly before his death Louis undertook a journey to England, 
and visited, as a pilgrim, the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury. 
He died on the 18th of September, 1180. The contemporary his- 
torians represent Louis as a religious gentle-tempered prince, full 



A.D. 1180-1223. ACCESSION OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS. I43 

of kindly feelings toward his subjects, but of a character too sim- 
ple, easy, and credulous for his position. The communal move- 
ment continued to make progress during his reign, and many char- 
ters are signed with his name. He gave great encouragement to 
commerce by incorporating the "hanse" of Paris — a company of 
merchants who conducted the traffic on the Seine between the 
capital and Mantes. Louis VII. also took an important step to- 
ward improving the lower classes by instituting the " villes neuves," 
for the reception of serfs who might escape from tlie yoke of the 
smaller proprietors. In these towns they enjoyed freedom, to- 
gether Avith certain civil privileges, and a small grant of land. 

§*7. Philip II. Augustus, 1180-1223. — Philip, the only son of 
Louis, now succeeded to the throne, having just completed the fif- 
teenth year of his age. The title of Augustus', by Avhich he is 
commonly distinguished, was derived, according to some writers, 
from the circumstance of his having been born in the month of 
August ; others consider the epithet as synonymous Avith " the 
Great" or "the Imperial." Almost immediately after his acces- 
sion he contracted a marriage with Isabella, daughter of Baldwin, 
count of Hainault, and niece of Philip of Flanders. This pi-incess 
was directly descended in the female line from the unfortunate 
Charles of Lorraine, the last heir of the Carlovingians ; a fact 
which, in the popular view, was of auspicious omen for the new 
reign and the interest of the monarchy. The young bride Avas 
forthwith crowned at St. Denis, and Philip received as her doAvry 
t^e town of Amiens, together with the promise of part of her un- 
cle's dominions at his death. 

Philip early announced what was to be the characteristic policy 
of his reign — the systematic augmentation of the power of the 
crown at the expense of the great feudatories. He proceeded to 
call to account the powerful Duke of Burgundy, who was accused 
of violating the rights and Avasting the property of the Church in 
his dominions. The duke returned a haughty ansAver, and forti- 
fied himself in his castle of Chatillon-sur-Seine. The king, Avith- 
out a moment's hesitation, dispatched a considerable force into 
Burgundy, invested and reduced the fortress of Chatillon, took 
prisoner the duke's eldest son, who commanded the garrison, and 
forced the dismayed vassal to lower his tone and sue for terms of 
accommodation. These Avere granted immediately ; the Duke of 
Burgundy bound himself to make ample reparation to the Church 
for Avhatever injuries he had committed, and gave up three of his 
castles in pledge to Philip until the satisfaction should be complete. 
After infiicting this severe chastisement, the king exercised a Avise 
forbearance, restored the duke's castles, and endeavored, by marks 
of confidence and favor, to attach him firmly to the interests of the 
crown. 



144 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII. 

The same decisive energy showed itself soon afterward in the 
shape of religious intolerance and persecution. A royal edict of 
April, 1182, commanded all the Jews to leave the kingdom within 
three months. Their property was confiscated, and their syna- 
gogues converted into Christian temples. Heavy penalties were 
denounced against profane swearers and blasphemers, gamesters 
and buffoons ; and a third and more rigorous edict was directed 
against the heretical sect called Faterini, numbers of whom, con- 
demned upon charges more or less trivial and unjust, perished on 
the scaiFold. 

§ 8. The causes of dissension between the rival crowns of 
France and England were too deep to be easily uprooted. • In 
1187 Philip convoked his barons at Bourges, and, taking the field 
before Henry had time to advance, attacked and carried in rapid 
succession several of the towns held by the English in Berry. 
Henry at length arrived ; but a battle was avoided, and Henry 
obtained a truce for two years. It was arranged to hold a " par- 
lement" for the conclusion of a definitive peace, at a spot near 
Gisors, where an ancient and magnificent elm marked the bound- 
ary between Normandy and the French dominions ; but before the 
time appointed, tidings arrived from the East which gave an un- 
expected character to the proposed meeting, and took precedence 
of all other subjects of discussion. The Latin kingdom of Pales- 
tine, after a troubled and precarious existence of eighty-eight years, 
had fallen beneath the conquering arms of Saladin ; the Christians 
were defeated in a tremendous battle at Tiberias, in July, 1187; 
and on the 2d of October in the same year the holy city Jerusalem 
was assaulted and captured by the Saracens. 

The kings of France and England met according to appointment 
in January, 1188, each attended by a multitude of knights and 
nobles. They had scarcely commenced a discussion of the points 
in dispute, when the venerable Archbishop of Tyre presented him- 
self before the assembly, and in a pathetic speech implored the 
sovereigns to forget all matters of personal complaint, and unite 
in arming for the vindication of the Christian cause in Palestine, 
and the recovery of Jerusalem from the infidel dominion. It was 
a chord wliich in those days was never struck in vain. Henry 
of England instantly proffered his services in the sacred warfare, 
and assumed the cross. Philip followed with eager emulation ; 
and after him a crowd of gallant warriors — Richard Coeur de Lion, 
Philip of Flanders, the Duke of Burgundy, the Counts of Cham- 
pagne, Chartres, and Nevers — enrolled themselves as leaders of the 
new crusade. A delay of two years was allowed to complete the 
necessary preparations ; and a tax of a tenth — called the " dime 
Saladine" — was imposed on the property of all Avho were unable 
to take personal share in tho expedition. 



A.D. 1189-1191. THE THIED CRUSADE. 145 

Notwithstanding the solemn engagement thus recently contract- 
ed, the ensuing summer found Philip and Heniy again at deadly 
strife. Philip, in a fit of passion, hewed down the famous " Orme 
des conferences," vowing by all the saints of France that no more 
pacific meetings should be held on the spot. Richard now broke 
out into open revolt against his father, and formally did homage 
to the King of France for his Continental possessions. Deeply 
wounded by this defection, Henry seems to have felt that fortune 
was finally deserting him. He was no longer able to make war 
with his accustomed vigor and ability ; and he found himself re- 
duced to the humiliating necessity of petitioning Philip for terms 
of peace. The conditions imposed on him were harsh and galling : 
he Avas compelled to make a declaration of unqualified submission 
to his rival ; to renounce all claim to the sovereignty of Berry ; 
to pay tAventy thousand marks of silver for the restoration of the 
towns captured by the French ; and to consent that all the barons 
Avho had taken arms in favor of Richard should continue vassals 
of that prince. Having subscribed this ignominious treaty, Henry 
retired to the castle of Chinon, and there expired, overwhelmed by 
grief and despondency, on the 6th of July, 1189. 

§ 9. The third crusade commenced in the year 1190. Richard, 
who had succeeded his father on the English throne, joined Philip 
at Vezelai, and the two monarchs marched in company as far as 
Lyons, Here they separated ; Richard continued his route to 
Marseilles, Philip crossed the Alps and embarked at Genoa. The 
Sicilian port of Messina was named as rendezvous ; here the Cru- 
saders passed the winter ; and here it was that the first seeds of 
jealousy and discord were sown between Richard and Philip, 
whose characters — on the one side impetuous and overbearing, on 
the other suspicious and revengeful — were such as to forbid the 
hope that they could long remain cordially united. 

The King of France set sail from Messina on the 30th of March,, 
(1191), and in fourteen days arrived off Ptolemais, or St. Jean 
d'Acre, where' a prodigious Christian army was assembled, num- 
bering several hundred thousand men. The siege of this impor- 
tant fortress had already lasted more than a year ; but the jeal- 
ousies, intrigues, and dissensions which reigned among the Cru- 
saders retarded their success even more than the valor and skill 
of their opponents. The operations of the siege were mainly di- 
rected by Coeur de Lion, who became the hero of the crusade. 
The commanding ascendency which he assumed from the outset, 
and the renown acquired by his splendid feats of personal prowess, 
were keenly offensive to his brother monarch, himself rather a pol- 
itician than a soldier. The proud spirit of Philip ill brooked the 
secondai-y place which he occupied in the Christian host ; and aft- 

G 



140 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap-VIII. 

er the surrender of Acre lie determined to take leave of the army 
without farther delay. Having rei\ewed the engagement which 
bound him to respect the territories, rights, and interests of Rich- 
ard of England, the king sailed from Acre on the 1st of August, 
and, landing at Otranto, repaired to the pontifical court at Rome. 
Here he is said to have solicited from Celestine IH. a dispensation 
from the oath of friendship he had so lately sworn to Richard, 
against whom he had long meditated deep designs of malice and 
revenge. The Pope positively refused to gratify him ; and Philip, 
in sullen discontent, pursued his way to France, where his precip- 
itate return exposed him to much censure, and general imputa- 
tions of unfaithfulness to his crusading vow. 

§ 10. Whether with or without the papal permission, Philip 
scrupled not to break his pacific engagement with his English rival. 
He lost no time in allying himself intimately with Prince John, 
who was busily plotting to supplant his brother on the throne, 
and received his homage, not only for Normandy and the Conti- 
nental states, but also for the crown of England. In virtue of this 
compact, Philip proceeded to overrun the dominions of Richard in 
France, and easily made himself master of the Vexin, of the city 
of Evreux, and several other towns and castles. Meanwhile the 
rash and imperious King of England had fallen into the hands of 
his enemy, the Duke of Austria, as he traversed Germany on his 
return from Palestine, and was languishing in the dungeons of 
Trifels. Summoned before the Diet at Haguenau in March, 1193, 
Richard triumphantly cleared himself from the malicious charges 
brought against him ; notwithstanding which, through the intrigues 
of Philip with the Emperor Henry VI., to whose custody he had 
been transferred by Leopold of Austria, his release from confine- 
ment was still delayed for some months longer. After a deten- 
tion of more than a year, he recovered his liberty in February, 
1194 ; and the emperor \vrote in haste to the confederates Philip 
and John, to bid them " look to themselves, for the devil was un- 
chained." The terrible Richard soon made his appearance in 
Normandy at the head of his barons, breathing wrath and venge- 
ance. John, ever base and perfidious, endeavored to propitiate 
his brother by treacherously assassinating no less than three hund- 
red French men-at-arms, whom he had assembled under pretext 
of a great banquet at Evreux. Richard soon regained possession 
of all the places which had surrendered to Philip, and inflicted 
upon him a severe defeat at Fretteval, near Vendome (July 15, 
11 94). Hostilities continued, with various and indecisive fortune, 
for five years longer. Innocent III., immediately on his accession 
to the papal throne, interposed his authority to put an end to this 
exhausting and fruitless contest. He dispatched a legate to 



A.D. 1199, 1200. FKANCE UNDER PAPAL INTERDICT. 147 

France, and a truce for five years was concluded between the bel- 
ligerents, each party retaining his actual possessions (January 13, 
1199). It is most probable that this treaty, like so many others, 
would have been abruptly violated on the first opportunity ; but 
tlie death of Richard, which occurred before the castle of Chalus, 
in the Limousin, in April, 1199, delivered Philip from this restless 
adversary, and removed the main obstacle to the accomplishment 
of his ambitious schemes. 

§ 11. Philip now skillfully and boldly availed himself of the 
disputed succession between John and his youthful nephew, Ar- 
thur, duke of Brittany, to enfeeble and dismember the Anglo- 
Norman monarchy. Arthur placed himself under the Fi-ench 
king's protection, and offered to pay him homage for the posses- 
sions of the English crown in France. Philip promised to support 
him, and gave him a brilliant reception at his court, Avhere the 
young duke took up his abode. But Philip was in no position at 
this moment to carry matters to extremity in vindication of the 
rights of Arthur ; he was engaged .in a violent struggle with that 
most haughty and inflexible of pontiffs. Innocent III. 

After the death of his first wife, Isabella of Hainault, Philip had 
married Ingelberga, daughter of the King of Denmark ; but for 
this princess, although she is described as amiable, virtuous, and 
beautiful, he almost instantly conceived a strange and insurmount- 
able aversion ; and assembling a council at Compiegne, he com- 
pelled the servile prelates to pronounce the dissolution of the mar- 
riage. Upon appeal to Rome, however, the sentence of the French 
council was reversed ; in spite of which, Philip proceeded, in 1196, 
to espouse the beautiful Agnes de Meran, daughter of a Tyrolese 
count calling himself Marquis of Istria. This step caused general 
scandal. Pope Celestine III. addressed the king in repeated but 
ineffectual remonstrances and entreaties. His successor. Innocent 
III., a man of a very different stamp, adopted an uncompromising 
tone and decisive measures ; after admonishing Philip by letter to 
return to his duty and recall his lawful wife, he sent a cardinal 
legate into France, with orders, in default of immediate satisfac- 
tion, to inflict the extreme penalty of an interdict. Philip contin- 
ued obstinate ; and the interdict, not confined, as in former in- 
stances, to particular places or persons, but embracing the entire 
kingdom and nation, was published in a council at Dijon, in Jan- 
uary, 1200. During the space of eight months the churches re- 
mained closed, and all offices of religion were suspended through- 
out the land, with the exception of the baptism of new-born in- 
fants, and of extreme unction for the dying ; even the corpses of 
the faithful were refused a resting-place in consecrated earth. 
Philip held out for a time with stubborn fortitude ; imprisoned 



148 • PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII. 

the unhappy Ingelberga at Etampes, and deprived of their sees all 
the bishops Avho observed the interdict. But in the end the moral 
force of public feeling was too strong for him ; he wisely resigned 
the contest, separated from Agnes de Me'ran, and reinstated Ingel- 
berga in her outward position, although he still continued to treat 
her in private with unmanly severity. Agnes, who seems to have 
been tenderly attached to Philip, died within a few weeks in giv- 
ing birth to a son, who survived but a short time. She had pre- 
viously borne two daughters, whom the Pope, with singular incon- 
sistency, pronounced legitimate. 

During the pressure of the interdict, Philip was glad to avoid 
the difficulties he would have had to encounter in raising and 
maintaining an army by entering into a compromise with John 
of England. It was agreed that a marriage should take place be- 
tween Prince Louis, eldest son of Philip, and the Infanta Blanche 
of Castile, niece of King John ; the English king engaging to give 
his niece a dowry of thirty thousand marks of silver, together with 
the city and county of Evreux, and to declai'e her sole heiress of 
all his Continental territories in the event of his dying without 
direct issue. Philip, on his part, promised to give no farther sup- 
port to the pretensions of Arthur of Brittany, and undertook that 
the young prince should renounce all claim to Normandy and the 
other French fiefs, and should take the oath of homage to his un- 
cle for the duchy of Brittany. Upon these conditions, the mar- 
riage between the youthful pair was solemnized near Vernon, in 
Normandy, on the 23d of May, 1200.*" 

Notwithstanding this amicable settlement, Philip only waited 
for a favorable opportunity to commence a contest Math John, for 
the purpose of dispossessing him altogether of his dominions on 
the soil of France. A plausible pretext soon occurred. John 
had become violently enamored of Isabella of Angouleme, the af- 
fianced bride of Hugh de Lusignan, count de la Marche. Giving 
the reins to his lawless passion, he repudiated his own consort, 
Hawise of Gloucester, carried off the promised Avife of his vassal, 
and married her. At the voice of the outraged count the stout 
barons of Poitou and Limousin flew to arms, and indignantly de- 
manded of Philip, as lord paramount, justice against the insolent 
ravisher. Philip lent a willing ear to the appeal, and cited John 
to appear at his court at Paris, in May, 1202, there to answer 
whatever charges might be brought against him. John disregard- 
ed the summons, and Philip, prepared beforehand for the refusal, 
instantly invaded Normandy at the head of his forces, and in a 
short time reduced several of the principal towns. Arthur of 
Brittany, whom Philip had purposely retained near his person, 
* See Shaksp.K. .John, Act iii., sc. 1 — "Gone to be mavriecl/'ctc. 



A.D. 1202-1205. PHILIP DISPOSSESSES JOHN OF NOPvMANDY. 149 

was now dispatched into Poitou to place himself at the head of 
tlie insurrectionary movement against his uncle. The young duke, 
in conjunction with the Count de la Mai'che, laid siege to the cas- 
tle of Mirebeau, a few miles north of Poitiers, where his grand- 
mother Queen Eleanora had taken refuge. John hastily marched 
to the relief of his mother, surprised the besieging army, and gain- 
ed a complete victory, taking prisoner Arthur and his sister Elea- 
nor, the Count de la Marche, and all the chief barons of their party 
(August 1, 1202). 

John confined his nephew first in the castle of Falaise, from 
which he was transferred to that of Rouen. The exact particulars 
of his subsequent fate were never ascertained ; but the belief seems 
to have been almost universal at the time that John, upon Arthur's 
positively refusing to renounce his title to the English .^jrown, 
stabbed the unfortunate prince with his own hand, and, fastening 
a heavy stone to the body, cast it into the dark waters of the Seine 
(April 3, 1203). 

§ 12. This barbarous crime excited universal horror and dis- 
gust ; the Bretons, who had been loyally attached to the murdered 
Arthur, rose turaultuously, and with clamorous outcries appealed 
to the King of France for vengeance on the royal assassin. Philip, 
eagerly seizing the advantage thrown into his hands, cited John 
to appear before the tribunal of his peers, the great vassals of the 
crown, and submit himself to their awai'd. John returned no an- 
swer to this summons, and Philip forthwith crossed the frontier of 
his fief of Poitou, where the whole population indignantly shook 
off the hated yoke of John, and ranged themselves under the 
French banners. Favored by the unaccountable apathy and slug- 
gishness of his adversary, Philip next invaded Normandy, and aft- 
er a siege of five months made himself master of the three great 
fortresses of Andelys (one of them being the celebrated Chateau 
Gaillard), regarded as the keys of the province. This signal suc- 
cess was rapidly followed by the conquest of numerous other 
towns, after which Philip laid siege to Rouen. The ancient and 
flourishing capital of Normandy surrendered at the end of thirty 
days, after making a fruitless appeal to John, who had retired to 
England, for help against the invader ; and thus, within the short 
space of three months, Philip completed the conquest of the prov- 
ince, which was at once annexed to the French crown. The 
greater part of the county of Poitou submitted before the close of 
the same summer, and in the spring of 1205 Philip reduced almost 
the whole district of Saintonge and Angouleme. Queen Eleanora, 
who had strenuously supported the fallen fortunes of her fixvorite 
son John, could not survive this extraordinary series of disasters 
to the house of Plantagenet ; she died early in 1205, at a very ad- 
vanced age, at the abbey of Beaulieu, near Loches. 



150 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII. 

Thus despoiled of some of the fairest and most extensive posses- 
sions of his crown, John at lengtli signified his willingness to ap- 
pear and plead before the court of his suzerain, provided Philip 
w^ould grant him the protection of a safe-conduct. Philip replied 
that he might come to France in all confidence and security ; but 
upon being asked to give the same guarantee for his safe return 
to England, he declared, with his customary adjuration "by all 
the saints of France," that John's liberty to recross the Channel 
must depend upon the sentence of his peers. John naturally de- 
clined to incur the hazard thus implied ; the court of peers pro- 
ceeded to hear the cause in his absence ; he was found guilty of 
"murder by treachery, the most aggravated form of homicide,'' 
and condemned to the penalty of death, together with the forfei- 
ture of all his fiefs held of the crown of France. 

This transaction offers a remarkable proof of the ascendency 
acquired by the crown over the great feudatories since the acces- 
sion of Philip Augustus, and enables us to estimate the general 
vigor, efficiency, and success of his government. Something, how- 
ever, must doubtless be attributed to the general detestation and 
contempt in which John was held, and to ±he eagerness of the 
French to humble the Anglo-Norman dynasty by destroying its 
power on the Continent. 

The Court of Peers, thus recognized, apparently for the first 
time, as the supreme judicial tribunal of the kingdom, was com- 
posed of twelve members, six of whom were temporal and six ec- 
clesiastical peers. The former were the Dukes of Normandy, 
Burgundy, and Aquitaine, the Counts of Flanders, Champagne, 
and Toulouse. The prelates were the Archbishop of Eeims, the 
Bishops of Laon, Noyon, Beauvais, Chalons, and Langres. 

Though habitually sunk in sloth and self-indulgence, John would 
not suffer the rich heritage of his Norman ancestors to pass from 
him without striking one blow in its defense. He landed at La 
Kochelle in July, 1206, and met with an encouraging reception 
from the fickle-minded Poitevins, who hastened to join his army 
in great numbers. Marching northward, he crossed the Loire, 
carried by assault the important town of Angers, and penetrated 
into Brittany, where he reduced several fortresses ; but, on the 
approach of Philip with a superior force, he retreated to Poitou, 
and endeavored to make the best terms he could by negotiation. 
Through the mediation of the Pope's legates, a truce for two years 
was signed on the 26th of October, by the terms of Avhich John 
renounced all claim to the sovereignty of Normandy, Brittany, 
Maine, and so much of Anjou and Touraine as lies north of the 
Loire, ceding also to Philip the city of Poitiers and the surround- 
ing district. The war between the two monarchs, if war it could 



A. D. 1203. THE ALBIGENSIAN WAR. 151 

be called in which not a single pitched battle had been fought, had 
lasted scarcely three years, and in that brief space Philip had add- 
ed territories to his kingdom which had almost doubled its extent. 
He had previously acquired the provinces of Vermandois and Ar- 
tois, and not long afterward he obtained possession of Auvergne. 
Thus France became once more, next to the German empire, the 
most populous and powerful of the commonwealths of Europe. 

§ 13. While the monarchy thus triumphed at the expense of 
England in the north, events were preparing in a distant quarter 
which in their results tended greatly to the farther extension and 
consolidation of the royal authority in the hands of Philip. The 
spirit of free inquiry in religion had always been prevalent in 
Languedoc and throughout the south of France. It was fostered 
in these provinces by the superior intelligence and education of 
the people, by the general cultivation of the arts and sciences, and 
by the liberal or almost republican form of the civil institutions. 
The twelfth century had been fruitful in controversial agitation, 
and had given birth to numerous heterodox sects, which had grad- 
ually taken deep root, to the serious disparagement and injury of 
the Church of Home. These sectaries were variously known as 
Catharini, Paterini, Pauvres de Lyons, Vaudois, and Albigenses, 
which last name they derived from being specially numerous and 
influential in the town and neighborhood of Alby. Our knowl- 
edge of their tenets is partial and obscure. Many of them cer- 
tainly held the doctrines of the Paulicians or Manicheans, the 
same heresy which was persecuted at Orleans and elsewhere in 
the reign of Henry I. ; but the views of the great majority seem 
to have differed little from those of the Keformers of Germany 
and Switzerland in the sixteenth century. They denounced the 
ambition, cupidity, and corruptions of the court of Rome ; they 
exposed and ridiculed the vices of the priesthood; they abjured 
the supremacy of the Pope, the sacrifice of the mass, purgatory, 
and image-worship ; they professed primitive simplicity and ascetic 
chastity. It was an organized rebellion against the ecclesiastical 
system of the day. 

Innocent III. was fully alive to the magnitude of the danger, 
and had resolved from the first moment of his accession to take 
effective measures to arrest its progress. His efforts were for some 
time abortive ; but in 1203 he appointed as his legates two Cister- 
cian monks, named Peter de Castelnau and Ralph, and armed 
them with an extraordinary commission to investigate, punish, 
and root out the rampant heresy which afflicted the four dioceses 
of Languedoc. The legates found an able and enthusiastic coad- 
jutor in tlie person of a priest of the diocese of Osma in Spain, 
Dominic de Guzman, afterward so celebrated as tlie founder of 



152 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII. 

the order which bears his name, and the first director of the tre- 
mendous Inquisition. Kaymond VI., count of Toulouse, was 
known to regard the heretics with tolerant indulgence, if not to 
share their opinions, and the papal envoys made every effort to in- 
timidate and reclaim him. Finding him immovable, they launch- 
ed against him a sentence of excommunication ; and the count 
having retaliated v/ith angry and menacing language, one of the 
gentlemen of his household attacked and murdered the unfortu- 
nate Peter de Castelnau near St. Gilles, as he was preparing to 
cross the Rhone (January 15, 1208). 

Furious at this outrage, Innocent not only anathematized the 
count afresh, but published a decree by which he absolved his sub- 
jects from their oath of allegiance, deprived him of his dominions, 
and bestowed them upon all good Catholics who were willing to 
take possession of them by force of arms. A new crusade was 
proclaimed — a crusade, not against 'the blaspheming infidel, but 
against a Christian sovereign ; the enterprise being described as 
all the more meritorious, inasmuch as the heretic Raymond was 
in a ivorse spiritual condition than the benighted heathen. The 
same privileges were offered as inducements to serve against the 
Albigenses that belonged to those who encountered all the hard- 
ships and dangers of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land ; and so 
strong was the temptation thus held out, so insatiable the passion 
of the age for religious warfare, that the Pope's summons was an- 
swered by vast multitudes of eager warriors, who were marshaled 
at Lyons about midsummer, 1209. The crusading army, under 
the guidance of the Pope's legate, Amaury, abbot of Citeaux, and 
Simon, count de Montfort, marched into Languedoc, and besieged 
the town of Beziers, Avhicli was stormed on the 22d of July. A 
horrible massacre ensued ; the whole population was indiscrimin- 
ately put to the sword. One of the superior officers inquired of 
the Abbot of Citeaux how they were to distinguish the heretics 
from the faithful: "Slay them all!" returned the savage church- 
man, " for the Loi'd knoweth those that are his !" Not a living 
soul was spai'ed, and the city was afterward pillaged and reduced 
to ashes. 

The victors next assaulted Carcassonne, the capital of Raymond- 
l?oger, vicomte de Beziers. Here the papal legate, availing him- 
self of the convenient maxim that "no faith is to be kept with 
heretics," obtained possession, by a deliberate act of treachery and 
perjury, of the person of the young vicomte, and thus compelled 
the garrison to sui'render the city. Raymond-Roger Avas detained 
a close prisoner, and his dominions were offered by the legate to 
Simon de Montfort, who, after much solicitation, accepted them. 
Bold^ unscrupulous, superstitious, cruel, and altogether devoted to 



A.D. 1209-1215. SIMON DE MONTFORT. 153 

the Holy See, no more apt instrument could have been selected 
for the purposes of Innocent than this haughty baron. His cap- 
tive rival died suddenly, after a short confinement, in November, 
1209 — of dysentery, as was publicly reported, but more probably 
of poison. The i-emaining towns of the district were quickly re- 
duced ; the county of Foix submitted without resistance ; the 
whole of Languedoc, with the exception of the county of Toulouse, 
lay at the feet of the conqueror. 

JRaymond of Toulouse, bending before the storm, had made his 
peace with Innocent by a degrading penance, and had been per- 
mitted, on condition of joining the so-called crusade against his 
own subjects, to retain his possessions. But, not displaying suffi- 
cient zeal in the cause, he w^as once more excommunicated by the 
legate, and an interdict was laid upon Toulouse. The count now 
repaired in person to Rome, and strove by abject humiliation to 
recommend himself to the favor of the Pope; he was referred to 
a council about to be held at Aries ; but the terms of reconcilia- 
tion there offered were so utterly preposterous, that he at once re- 
jected them with indignant disdain. Raymond was immediately 
and furiously assailed by the fanatic Simon de Montfort ; he was 
defeated in the summer of 1211 ; and the greater part of his ter- 
ritories fell into the hands of the enemy. The count's sole remain- 
ing hope now lay in his brother-in-law, the chivalrous Pedro II., 
king of Aragon. Pedro hastened to his succor at the head of a 
powerful army ; and the two princes, combining their forces, at- 
tacked the Crusaders under De Montfort at Muret, on the 12th of 
September, 1213. A desperate battle followed, in which the al- 
lies suffered a disastrous rout, and the heroic Pedro fell dead un- 
der a shower of arrows. Fifteen thousand are said to have per- 
ished on the side of the vanquished, numbers of whom Avere drown- 
ed in the Garonne. This victory opened to De Montfort the gates 
of Toulouse, Narbonne, and Montauban, and, in fact, established 
his supremacy over the entire province against which the crusade 
had been undertaken. The fourth Lateran council, held in No- 
vember, 1215, confirmed him in the sovereignty of all the conquer- 
ed territories, with the exception of the counties of Foix and Com- 
minges, which were restored to their rightful OAvners. Count 
Raymond submitted Avith calm fortitude to the sentence of the 
council, and took up his residence at Toulouse in a private sta- 
tion. The Albigensian Avar Avas noAV formally declared to be at 
an end. But in its course a deadly blow had been dealt to the 
ancient soA'creign houses of southern France, and to the national- 
ity of its inhabitants ; and the ultimate advantage of this revolu- 
tion, as Ave shall see in the sequel, Avas reaped by the Capetian 
dynasty. 

G2 



154 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII. 

§ 14. In tliis ferocious and desolating strife Philip Augustus 
took no personal share. Pie was fully occupied at home, Avhere 
the power and greatness of the French monarchy advanced daily 
under his wise, vigilant, and politic government. In 1213 he Avas 
invited by Innocent III. to undertake the conquest of England, 
upon which the Pope, in a moment of irritation against John, had 
just inflicted a sentence of interdict. Philip collected a large 
army at immense expense, and was preparing to descend upon the 
English coast, when he was suddenly informed that John had made 
terms with the arrogant pontiff, and that, as his kingdom had now 
become a fief of the Holy See, the proposed expedition could not 
be proceeded with without offense and insult to the Church. 
Highly incensed at having been thus trifled with, Philip never- 
theless at once desisted from his enterprise, and turned his arras 
against Ferrand, count of Flanders, who had refused to join his 
standard for the invasion of England, and had allied himself with 
the Emperor Otho IV., John's nephew ; Philip, in the true spirit 
of rivalry, taking the side of his antagonist, Frederick of Hohen- 
stauflfen. The Fi'ench fleet sailed from the mouth of the Seine, 
and captured Gravelines and Dam, the port of Bruges. At this 
latter place, however, the invaders were suddenly attacked by a 
powerful squadron of English ships, and, after a severe action, were 
defeated with immense loss, those of the French vessels which 
escaped capture being so seriously damaged that they were burnt 
by Philip's own orders. Meanwhile the king in pei'son led his 
array across the Flemish border, and gained possession, with slight 
resistance, of Cassel, Ypres, Courtrai, and Ghent ; Lille at first sub- 
mitted, but afterward revolted, and imprisoned the French garri- 
son ; upon which Philip attacked and carried the city by escalade, 
and, after much slaughter among the inhabitants, burnt it to the 
ground. Exasperated by these losses, the Count of Flanders ex- 
erted himself to form a strong coalition against the French mon- 
arch ; and it was concerted that the emperor should invade France 
from the frontier of Flanders and Hainault, while, at the same 
moment, John of England should make an attack upon Poitou for 
the recovery of that portion of his ancient territory. John dis- 
embarked at La Eochelle in February, 1214, and, before the French 
troops could arrive to oppose him, possessed himself of several of 
the chief towns of Poitou, and even entered Angers in triumph ; 
but no sooner did he hear of the approach of Prince Louis, Philip's 
eldest son, though with a force inferior to his own, than he hastily 
rccrossed the Loire, abandoned all his advantages, sacrificed his 
stores and munitions of war, and retreated to the farthest limits 
of Poitou. 

The campaign did not open in the north till hostilities were 



A.D. 1214. BATTLE OF BOUVINES. 155 

nearly terminated in the west. Otho assembled his army at Va- 
lenciennes ; his camp was thronged by the princes and nobles of 
northern Germany and the Low Countries, the most conspicuous 
of whom were the Dukes of Lorraine and Brabant, the Counts of 
Flanders, Holland, and Boulogne ; he was also supported by a con- 
siderable body of English archers, commanded by William Long- 
sword, earl of Salisbury, the bastard brother of King John. The 
united numbers of the confedei'ate host are said to have exceeded 
150,000 men. Philip did not wait to be attacked ; he marched 
into Flanders toward the end of July, and for several weeks laid 
Avaste the country without opposition. At length the hostile ar- 
mies met at the bridge of Bouvines, between Lille and Tournay ; 
and here, on the 27th of August, 1214, was fought one of the best 
contested and most memorable battles of the Middle Ages. After 
a sanguinary conflict of three hours, during which the sovereigns 
on both sides braved .the most desperate personal peril, and were 
both nearly taken prisoners, a brilliant victory remained with the 
French ; the emperor escaped from the field with the utmost dif- 
ficulty, leaving behind him his imperial eagle and the car upon 
which it was borne ; five counts, among whom were Ferrand of 
Flanders and William of Salisbury, were taken prisoners, together 
with twenty-five knights bannerets. Sixteen of the municipal bor- 
oughs of France are mentioned as having furnished their contin- 
gents of men-at-arms, or milices communales ; and these contributed 
mainly to the glorious success of the day. 

The results of the battle of Bouvines were immense. It was 
fatal to the personal fortunes of Otho, w^lio retired to Brunswick, 
resigned his crown, and ended his days in obscurity. John of 
England obtained a truce for five years by the payment of 60,000 
marks ; the Counts of Flanders and Boulogne forfeited their fiefs, 
and the former was imprisoned for life at Paris. But the most 
important consequence was the moral prestige acquired by the 
crown and monarchy of France, which, resting for support upon 
the nation, and not merely on the feudal aristocracy, assumed 
henceforth new and solid proportions of strength and grandeur. 
The popular joy throughout the kingdom was unbounded. Philip 
founded, in grateful memory of his triumph, the abbey "de la "Vic- 
toire," near Senlis, the interesting ruins of which still remain. 

§ 15. John, on his return to England, found his subjects in a 
state of turbulent disaffection. Disgusted by his exactions and 
cruelties, his meanness, cowardice, and utter incapacity for govern- 
ment, the great barons leagued together to extort from him by 
force a redi'ess of grievances, and the restoration of their constitu- 
tional rights. John was compelled to yield to their demands ; 
and on the 15th of June, 1214, signed, at liunnymead, the ever- 



156 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII. 

memorable Magna Charta, the foundation and bulwark of English 
liberty. But the ink Avas scarcely dry when the tyrant complain- 
ed bitterly to the Pope of the violence to which he had been sub- 
jected, and besought his interfei-ence. Innocent, in llis capacity 
of suzerain of England, issued a bull, declaring the charter illegal, 
null and void, and forbade the king to permit and the barons to 
demand the observance of its provisions, under pain of excommu- 
nication. The bai'ons sturdily refused compliance; John levied 
against them an army of foreign mercenaries, and a civil war en- 
sued. The insurgent nobles, thus driven to extremities, now sent 
an embassy to Paris, and offered the crown of England to Prince 
Louis, on condition of his armed assistance in overthrowing and 
dethroning John. It was not without difficulty that the prince 
obtained his fother's consent to this tempting proposition ; the 
cautious Philip was by no means disposed to embark in a second 
contest with Pope Innocent ; and, in reply to remonstrances and 
threats from Rome, he declared that, while he would give no act- 
ive support to his son's enterprise, he could not restrain him from 
maintaining his own just pretensions. Louis, who affected to lay 
claim to England in right of his wife Blanche, a granddaughter 
pf Henry II., accordingly set sail from Calais in May, 1216, and, 
landing at Sandwich, was joyfully welcomed by the confederate 
barons, who conducted him to London. John, with his usual pu- 
sillanimity, fled on the approach of danger, and retreated to the 
northern counties ; the invader took possession of the capital, re- 
ceived the homage of the principal nobility, and Avas solemnly pro- 
claimed King of England. His bold undertaking seemed upon 
the point of being crowned with complete success; but the sudden 
death of John (October 19, 1216) in a moment changed the pos- 
ture of affairs. From the hands of the detested tyrant the sceptre 
now passed into those of his son, an unoffending child often years 
old ; the barons would not desert, under such circumstances, the 
legitimate heir of the Plantagenets ; most of them withdrew from 
Louis, and declared their adherence to their rightful sovereign. 
The situation of the French prince noAV became extremely critical. 
He was excommunicated, Avith all his supporters, by the Pope ; 
his father declined to succor him ; and though he obtained, under- 
hand, some small re-enforcements from France, it Avas evident 
that, as the cause of Henry increased in strength daily, an over- 
poAvering force would shortly be arrayed against him. After suf- 
fering successive defeats by land and sea, Louis found himself 
blockaded in London ; and his resources being entirely exhausted, 
he had no alternatiA'e but to apply to the English leaders for terms 
of capitulation. By a treaty signed on the 11th of September, 
1217, he renounced all title to the croAvn of Britain, engaged to 



A.D. 1216-1222. RENEWAL OF WAR IN LANGUEDOC. 157 

repass the Channel immediately, and never more to return as an 
enemy; and farther promised to persuade his father to make res- 
titution of all the pi'ovinces on the Continent Avhich had been 
wrested from John. Upon these conditions, together with a stip- 
ulation of amnesty for all who had taken arms in his favor, Louis 
quitted England with his ci'estfallen followers, and reached the 
shores of France in safety. 

While these events were passing, a singular reaction had taken 
place in Languedoc, where Simon de Montfort had never com- 
pletely succeeded in establishing his authority. Raymond of Tou- 
louse, accompanied by his son, a chivalrous youth of eighteen, had 
raisedhis standard in Provence in the spring of 1216, and was 
received with transport by the population. The two counts be- 
sieged the usurper in Beaucaire, and forced him to surrender the 
place ; then marching straight upon Toulouse, Raymond entered 
his ancient capital in triumph, amid the joyous acclamations of 
the people, on the 13th of September, 1217. The city was imme- 
diately besieged by Simon de Montfort, and for nine months re- 
sisted the most desperate efforts of his army. During the prog- 
ress of the siege, the Count de Montfort was struck down by a 
huge stone, hurled by a machine from the ramparts, and expired 
upon the spot, on the 25th of June, 1218. His death was follow- 
ed by a general rising throughout Languedoc in defense of Ray- 
mond and his family against the northern invaders ; and Amaury, 
the son of Simon de Montfort, who was proclaimed by his party 
as his successor, was compelled to raise the siege of Toulouse and 
retire to Carcassonne. Honorius IIL, who had mounted the pa- 
pal throne upon the death of Innocent in 121G, now announced a 
renewal of the crusade, and urgently exhorted the King of France 
to take arms for the extirpation of the pestilent heresy of the south. 
Philip declined to march in person, but dispatched Prince Louis, 
attended by the Duke of Brittany and no less than thirty counts, 
with ten thousand archers, to prosecute the sacred war. La 1219 
tlie prince joined Amaury de Montfort at the siege of Marmande, 
which surrendered, and became the scene of a pitiless massacre 
like that of Beziers. Toulouse was again invested, and again re- 
pulsed the besiegers ; after which inglorious faiku'e Prince Louis 
abandoned the crusade. The party of Raymond was everywhere 
triumphant. Amaury de Montfort retained his sovereignty in 
name, though he had lost its substance ; and a desultory and lan- 
guishing warfare Avas kept up for some years longer in the south- 
ern provinces. Count Raymond died at Toulouse in 1222. As 
he had never been aV)Solved from the ban of papal excommunica- 
tion, the rites of Christian sepulture were, by the almost incredi- 
ble rancor of sectarian hatred, denied to his remains. He was 
succeeded in his estates by his son, Raymond YIL 



158 PHILIP AUGUSTUS. Chap. VIII, 

§ 16. The career of Philip Augustus was indeed drawing to a 
close ; and instead of engaging in distant enterprise, he devoted 
his last years to the task of consolidating his former conquests, 
and developing the resources and improving the internal organiza- 
tion of his kingdom. This monarch was a generous benefactor to 
the city of Paris ; he greatly enlarged its extent, caused the prin- 
cipal streets to be paved, and embellished it by erecting numerous 
churches, hospitals, market-halls, and other public edifices. Philip 
also laid the foundations of the castle or palace of the Louvre. "■ 
His intelligent patronage fostered the rising University of Paris, 
the first statutes of which were drawn up under his direction ; he 
instituted, in addition to the customary course of study — the triv- 
ium and quadriviura — three new faculties or professorships, of 
medicine, Koman law, and canon law. The king also bestowed 
much pains on the administration of public justice, and the estab- 
lishment of a regular fiscal system. The ordinary judges, in num- 
ber sixty-eight, were called prevots ; above them was a superior 
class, entitled baillis, who formed a court of appeal in important 
causes, and answered nearly to the missi dominici of Charlemagne. 

In the midst of these useful and enlightened occupations, Philip 
was seized, in the autumn of 1222, with a quartan fever, which 
gradually undermined his constitution. He lingered through the 
winter and spring, but in the course of a journey from Normandy 
to Paris, the violence of the disease suddenly increased, and com- 
pelled him to halt at Mantes, in which town he breathed his last, 
on the 14th of July, 1223. He had attained the fifty-eighth year 
of his age and the forty-third of his reign. /' 

Philip Augustus was the first sovereign of what may be called 
the national ra.orL&XQ\\j of France, who acquired a popular, brilliant, 
and lasting reputation. In general political ability — in the quali- 
ties of sagacity, prudence, firmness, #nergy, and perseverance — he 
was infinitely superior to his predecessors since the time of Char- 
lemagne ; and it may be questioned whether, in these essential 
qualifications of a ruler, he has been surpassed by any of his suc- 
cessors in the line of the Capetians. 

Among the many remarkable events of this period, the Fourth 
Crusade demands a brief notice, from its intimate connection with 
the history of France. This crusade originated with Pope Inno- 
cent in., and was preached in France, under his dii-ection, by 
Foulques, the parish priest of Neuilly-sur-Marne, near Paris, al- 
ready much distinguished by his zeal and eloquence. This enthu- 
siastic missionary attended a splendid tournament in Champagne, 
and induced all the nobles and knights there assembled to assume 
the cross. The chief of them were Thibald, count of Champagne, J 
and his cousin the Count of Chai'trcs and lilois; Baldwin IX., / 



A.D. 1202-1226. LATIN CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 159 

count of Flanders ; Boniface, marquis of Montferrat ; Simon de 
Montfort, afterwai'd the leader of the crusade in Languedoc ; and 
Geoffi-ey de Villehardouin, marshal of Champagne, who became 
the historian of the expedition. The adventurers, numbering 
thirty thousand knights and foot soldiers, for the most part of the 
French nation, proceeded to Venice, where they embarked in ship- 
ping furnished by that gi-eat maritime republic, on the 8th of Oc- 
tober, 1202. Being joined by the Doge Enrico Dandolo, they laid 
siege to Zara in Dalmatia, which had revolted from the Venetians ; 
and having soon reduced it to submission, passed the winter in 
that city. • Here they formed an alliance with Alexius Angelus, 
son and heir of the deposed Greek emperor, and engaged to assist 
him in recovering his throne. The result was that, instead of sail- 
ing for Palestine in pursuance of their vow, the Crusaders turned 
aside to Constantinople, where, by an extraordinary chain of oc- 
currences, one of their number, Baldwin of Flanders, found him- 
self, in the spring of 1204, seated on the imperial throne of the 
East. The territories of the empire Avere distributed among the 
French, Flemish, and Venetian nobles. The emperor retained a 
fourth part of the whole ; out of the remainder were formed a 
kingdom of Thessalonica or Macedonia, a principality of Achaia, 
a marquisate of Romania, a duchy of Niccea, besides several minor 
appanages. The original object of the expedition was totally for- 
gotten and abandoned ; and Innocent expressed himself at first in 
terms of unbounded indignation at this breach of faith. But he 
soon became reconciled to it by the triumph thus achieved over 
the schismatic Greek communion, and the apparent restoration of 
East and West to the obedience of the lloman See. The Latins 
maintained possession of Constantinople for a period of nearly 
sixty years ; but such were the dissensions and misfortunes that 
marked their rule, that it was no source of advantage, but rather 
of weakness and perplexity, to France. 

§ 17. Louis VIIL, 1223-1226— Louis VIIL brought with him 
to the throne one important personal recommendation, Avhich se- 
cured him universal popularity — his descent, on the side of his 
mother, Isabella of Hainault, from Charlemagne. His accession 
was regarded on this account as a restoration of the dynasty known 
by that glorious name, and the circumstance added fresh strength 
and lustre to the line of the Capetians. Having been crowned at 
Reims, with his consort Blanche, Louis was almost immediately 
engaged in hostilities with Henry III. of England ; but after two 
campaigns a truce for three years was concluded, and Louis turned 
his attention to another and more pi*essing object, the war in Lan- 
guedoc. 

In 1225 the King of France was solemnly charged by the coun- 



160 LOUIS VIII. Chap. VIII. 

cil of Bourges with the task of purging out from the land the wick- 
edness of the southern heretics. By the same council Count Ray- 
mond VII. was excommunicated, together with all his subjects 
and adherents, and the ancient possessions of his family were 
granted in sovereignty to the King of France and his heirs forever. 
The royal army, which assembled at Bourges early in the summer 
of 1226, is said to have numbered fifty thousand knights and 
horsemen, besides an immense multitude of combatants on foot. 
They descended the valley of the Rhone, and, being denied a pas- 
sage through Avignon, were compelled to besiege that city, then 
an important fortress of the county of Provence. Avignon was 
gallantly defended during three months ; the assailants were con- 
tinually harassed by Count Raymond, who cut off' their supplies, 
and their ranks were fearfully thinned by famine and epidemic 
disease ; nevertheless, the resources of the besieged failed at last, 
and Avignon capitulated on the 12th of September. A heavy 
contribution Avas exacted from the city ; its fortifications were de- 
molished, and the French and Flemish mercenaries in the service 
of Raymond were put to death. After this dear-bought victory 
most of the principal towns in the province submitted almost with- 
out resistance to the arms of the Crusaders ; and Raymond hav- 
ing thrown himself with a strong force into Toulouse,.Louis ad- 
vanced as if to besiege that capital. But the month of October 
had now arrived, and it was judged unadvisable to commence far- 
ther operations. The campaign was brought to a close, and the 
king, leaving a lieutenant in command of the conquered district, 
set out on his journey northward, intending to return in the spring. 
On the road he was attacked by the fever or dysentery which had 
proved so fatal to his army ; his feeble frame, exhausted already 
by the fatigues of war, was unable to sustain the shock ; and on 
reaching Montpensier, in Auvergne, he became conscious that his 
hours were numbered. Assembling round him the prelates and 
barons, the king caused them to swear allegiance to his eldest son, 
Prince Louis, a child of twelve years old, and committed him to 
tlie guardianship of Queen Blanche, his mother. Louis VIII. ex- 
[)ired on the 8th of November, 1226, in the thirty-ninth year of 
Ills age. He left four sons : Louis, who succeeded to the throne ; 
Robert, count of Artois ; Alphonso, count of Poitou ; and Charles, 
count of Anjou and Maine. Matthew Paris reports, but Avithout 
sufficient foundation, that the king died, not of natural disease, but 
of poison administei-ed by Thibald, count of Champagne, whom he 
had offended at the siege of Avignon, and who was, besides, re- 
puted to be the lover of Queen Blanche. 



Chap. VIII. FOKMATION OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. 



161 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



ON THE FORMATION OF THE 
FRENCH LANGUAGE. 
The language spoken in France haa varied 
at different periods, according to the different 
races wliicli have occupied tlie country. The 
primitive Celtic population used the tongue 
of which certain traces, more or less distinct, 
are to be discovered at this day in "la Bre- 
tagne Bretonnante," in Wales, and in Ireland. 
The Iberians of the south had a peculiar idiom 
of unknown antiquity, which is said to be 
preserved among the Basques of the Pyrenees 
and northern Spain. The Itomans, after their 
conquest of Gaul, introduced tlieir language 
as a part of their civilization, and in a won- 
derfully short space of time imposed it gener- 
ally on the conquered race. During the four 
centuries of the Koman dominion the lan- 
guage used by the Church, by the courts of 
law, in public assemblies, by the army, and in 
polite society, was Latin, as spoken by the 
Komans themselves. There is no doubt, how- 
ever, that the iwovincial and rural popula- 
tion of Gaul preserved a certain admixture 
of their original Celtic, and a considerable 
corruption of the Latin was the natural result. 
The dialect formed by an amalgamation of 
tl;ese two distinct elements obtained in course 
of time a vast extension, and acquired the 
name of lingua vulgaris, lingua lioniana rus- 
fica-i or langue Romane. BI. Raynouard, in 
his Granimaire de la Langua Romane, has 
described very minutely and clearly the proc- 
ess by which this change was effected. Tlie 
first step was to suppress the declensions of 
the Latin nouns, forming the genitive and 
dative ca?es by means of prepositions. Thus 
such words as majestatem, amantem, ardent- 
era, etc., when their final syllable had been 
cut off, became majestat., amant, ardent, etc. ; 
and the accusatives ending in ionem, as sta- 
tioneni, religionem, became station, religion, 
in like manner. The loss of the inflexions 
was supplied by the use of prepositions; de 
serving for the sign of the genitive case, and 
d for that of the dative. Afterward followed 
the substitution of the definite and indefinite 
articles for the pronouns hie, ille, and ipse, 
and the introduction of the auxiliary verb in 
the place of the Latin moods and tenses. 
I'pon the Frankish conquest a farther modi- 
fication was made in tlie popular language 
of Gaul, by certain additions from the Tu- 
desque or German irliom. The barbarian in- 
vaders, being utterly inferior in civilization to 
the nation tliey had conquered, accepted sub- 
stantially the tongue which tliey found pre- 
dominant in the country ; incorporating into 
it, however, many teiTus from their own rude 
and homely, yet forcible and expressive vo- 
cabulary. Tlie German is said to have con- 
tributed greatly to the phraseology connected 
with war, navigation, jurisprndence, agricul- 
ture, and field sports. (See M. de Chevallet, 
Origine et Formation de la Langue Fraii- 
Caise, 1S53.) Compounded then of these three 



ingredients — the Latin as its essential basis, 
the Celtic and German as accessories — the 
new language of Gaul seems to have been 
adopted almost universally by the middle of 
the eighth century. Many local variations 
e.xisted, nevertheless, as to form and pronun- 
ciation, in the different provinces, and espe- 
cially between the dialects of the north and 
the south. 

At a council held at Tours in the last year 
of the reign of Charlemagne a canon was 
passed enjoining all priests to procure a copy 
of certain Homilies of the Fathers translated 
into the lingua Romana rustica, which must 
therefore, at this date, have been the recog- 
nized language of the people. The earliest 
specimen that we possess of the Romance 
tongue, the parent of the modem French, ia 
the oath taken by Louis the German at the 
famous meeting at Strasburg in 843. It is 
here subjoined, as preserved by the historian 
Nithard, in the Recueil des Historians de 
France : " Pro Deo amur, et pro Christian 
poblo et nostre commun salvament, d'ist di en 
avant, in quant Deus saver et poder me donet, 
si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in 
adjuda et in caduna cosa, si cum om per dreit 
son fradra salvar dist, in o cjuid il mi altresi 
fayet ; et ab Lodher nul plaid numque prin- 
drai qui, moon vol, cist meon fradre Karle in 
damno sit." In the French of our day this 
would run as follows: "Pour I'amour de 
Dieu et pour le commun salut du peuple Chre- 
tien et le notre, de ce jour en avant, en tant 
que Dieu me donnera de savoir et de pouvoir, 
je soutiendrai mon frere Charles ioi present, 
et par aide et en toute chose comme par droit 
Ton doit soutenir son frere, tant qu'il fera de 
mtrae pour moi. Et avec Lotha ire jamais je 
ne ferai nuUe paix qui, de ma volonto, soit au 
prejudice de mon frere Charles." 

A hymn in honor of St. Eulalia, composed 
in the 10th century, illustrates the progress 
of the language. It commences thus : 
" Buona puloella I'ut Eulahn, 

Bel avret corps, bellezour uninia; 

Voldrent la vemtre II Deo inimi, 

Voldrent la faire diavle servir, 

Elle n'out eskoltet les luals ct>nseil]ers,"etc. 

Next in antiquity come the "Chanson de 
Roland," and the laws drawn up by William, 
duke of Normandy, after Iiis conquest of En- 
gland, both belonging to the 11 th century. 
The latter document begins thus : " Ces sount 
les lees et les custumes que le rei Willams 
grantat a tut le puple de Kngleterre aprte le 
conquest de la terre, iceles mesmes quo li reis 
Edward sun cosin tint devant lui. ^'o est a 
savier; I. Pais a sainte yglise. De quel for- 
fait que home out fait en eel tems, e il pout 
venir a sainte yglise, out pais de vie et de 
membre." 

Raynouard considers that in the ninth cen- 
tury the same language was spoken by all the 
inhabitants of France, both in the northern 
and southern provinces. But there can^e no 
doubt that by the beginning of the 13th cen- 



162 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap, VIII. 



tury, if not earlier, this national language 
had acquired two distinctly marked foi-ms or 
characters, which were Icnown as the Lanrjue 
(Voc and the Langue d'oil. These names ex- 
pressed the different pronunciation of the af- 
firmative particle: oc, in the south, being 
equivalent to the oU^ or oui, of the country 
north of the Loire. The Langue d'oc was the 
more refined, harmonious, and elegant of the 
two, and for a long time the more popular and 
widely diffused. It gave its name to the 
great and powerful province of Languedoc ; 
it was the language of the Troubadours ; and 
from it were derived three sister dialects, 
which became, in coui-se of time, tlie Italian, 
Spanish, and Portuguese languages. Yet 
eventually it yielded the palm to its northern 
competitor, the Langue d'oil, which bore 
strong marks of the manly, enterprising, en- 
ergetic genius both of the Franks and of the 
Normans. It was also known as the Roman 
Wallon, the southern dialect being called in 
distinction Roman Proveii.<;al. The ultimate 
predominance of the Langue d'oil, or, as it 
may be called distinctively, the French, arose 
from very obvious causes. It was the lan- 
guage used by the Capetian princes and their 
court ; and in proportion as the royal power 
advanced, the French made corresponding 
encroachments on the dialect of the southern 
provinces. Tlie success of the crown in the 
long and desolating Albigensian war destroy- 
ed the independence of Languedoc, and at the 
same time dealt a mortal blow to tlie graceful 
literature of the Troubadours. Their lan- 



guage necessarily suffered in their fixll ; from 
that date it rapidly declined in popularity 
and importance, until at last It became con- 
fined to the lower classes, and sank into an 
obscure and irregular patois. Thus the po- 
litical unity of the French kingdom produced 
as its natural consequence the unity of lan- 
guage and of national literature. 

The Langue d'oc attained its utmost perfec- 
tion in the lyric effusions of the Tioubadoui:% 
who flourished througliout southern France 
from the 11th to the 13th century. Their 
name comes from the Provenjal troubar, 
trouver, to invent. They were a race of itin- 
erant poets, who, wandering from chateau to 
chateau, recounted in stirring verse the ro- 
mantic legends of the worthies of antiquity — 
the knights of the Round Table, Charlemagne 
and his twelve paladins. Their favorite 
themes were war and love; the compositions 
relating to the former subject were called sir- 
ventes ; the tensons and ca^izones were con- 
cerned with the latter. " Courts of love" 
were frequently held at the castles of the 
principal barons or at the court of Toulouse, 
in which the Troubadours contended for a 
crown or other prize of the gaie science, to be 
bestowed by the hand of the Queen of Beaut ii. 
Considerable fragments of. their poetry have 
been collected by the researches of MM. Mil- 
lot, VUlemain, Raynouard, and Fauriel. 

The Trouveurs, or Trouveres, in nortliern 
France — the land of the Langue d'oil — an- 
swered to the Trouhadoui's of the south. 




Castle of Anger,?, begun by Philip Augustus, and completed by Louis IX. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

fROM THE ACCESSION OF (SAINT) LOUIS IX. TO THAT OF THE LINE OF 
VALOIS. A.D. 1226-1328. 
f \. Accession of Louis IX. ; Coalition of the Barons against the Eegent 
Blanche. § 2. Conclusion of the Albigensian War ; Cession of Langue- 
doc to the French Crown ; Establishment of the Inquisition at Toulouse. 
§ 3. Marriage of Louis to Marguerite of Provence ; Eevolt of the Barons 
of Poitou ; War with Henry III. of England ; Battles of Taillebourg and 
Saintes. § 4. Dangerous Illness of Louis ; his Vow to undertake a Cru- 
sade ; Marriage of Charles of Anjou with Beatrice of Provence ; first Cru- 
sade of St. Louis ; Battle of Mansourah. §5. Moderation and Justice of 
Louis; Invasion of Naples by Charles of Anjou; Battles of Grandella and 
Tagliacozzo. § 6. Second Crusade of St. Louis ; his Death and Charac- 
ter. § 7. Termination of the Crusades. § 8. Accession of Philip III. ; 
County of Toulouse and Kingdom of Navarre united to the Crown. § 9. 
Pierre de la Brosse. § 10. War between the Houses of Anjou and Ara- 
goninSicily; the " Sicilian Vespers ;" Death of Charles of Anjou. §11. 
Philip III. invades Aragon ; his Death at Perpignan. § 12. Accession 
of Philip IV. (le Bel) ; Continuation of War with Aragon ; Treaty of 
Tarascon. § 13. War between Philip and Edward I. of England ; Battle 
of Furnes ; Treaty of Montreuil. § 14. Flanders annexed to the French 
Crown. §15. Eevolt of the Flemings; Battle of Courtrai ; Battle of 
Mons-la-Puelle; Peace with Flanders. § 16. Philip IV. and Pope Bon- 
iface VIII. § 17. Seizure of Boniface at Anagni; his Death. § 18. 



2(54 LOUIS IX. Chap. IX. 

Election of Pope Clement V. § 19. Prosectition of the Knights Tem- 
plars ; Executions at Paris. § 20. Council of Vienne ; Abolition of the 
Order of the Templars ; Execution of Jacques de Molay ; Death of Cle- 
ment V. and of Philip IV. § 21. The three Sons of Philip the Pair; 
Reign of Louis X. (le Hutin). § 23. Eeign of Philip V. (le Long) ; the 
Salic Law. § 23. The Pastoureaux ; the Lepers ; Death of Philip V. 
§ 24. Eeign of Charles IV. ; Troubles in England ; Queen Isabella ; 
Death of Charles IV. 

§ 1. LomsIX., 1226-1270. — The principles of hereditary roy- 
alty had not yet taken such deep root in France as to induce the 
proud feudal lords to acquiesce contentedly in the rule of a help- 
less child, under the tutelage of a woman, and that woman a for- 
eigner and a Spaniard. A strong coalition was formed against 
the government of Blanche ; but she was a woman of superior 
undei'standing, dauntless courage, and remarkable force of char- 
acter; firm and resolute of purpose, she possessed at the same 
time all the tact and fascinating graces of her sex, and was thor- 
oughly versed in the arts of conciliation and persuasion. Gather- 
ing round her the vassals on Avhom she could depend, she first sol- 
emnized the coronation of her son at Reims ; and having thus se- 
cured to herself the authority of a consecrated sovereign, she next 
attacked the disaffected nobles. It was not, however, till 1231 
that this anxious and wearisome struggle was brought to a close, 
entirely to the advantage of the regent. By the treaty of St. Au- 
bin du Cormier, all the insurgent barons were reconciled to the 
crown. 

§ 2. The regency of Queen Blanche is also memorable for the 
termination of the Albigensian war, and the definitive submission 
of Languedoc to the crown of France. By a treaty signed at Paris 
in April, 1229, between the king. Count Kaymond, and the papal 
legate, a final pacification was effected. A small portion of his 
dominions was granted in fief to Raymond for his life ; after his 
death these tei-ritories were to pass to one of the French king's 
brothers, who should be united in marriage to the count's only 
daughter, Jeanne. The young princess was immediately affianced 
to Alphonso, count of Poitiers, the third son of Louis VIII.; but 
the marriage Avas not solemnized till 1241. 

With a view to consolidate the conquest, the Inquisition was 
formally established at Toulouse by a council held there in No- 
vember, 1229 ; the office of inquisitors being intrusted to the or- 
der of the Dominicans, or Friars Preachers. This tribunal be- 
came, as is Avell known, the most formidable engine of religious 
tyranny and domestic persecution that the world has ever seen. 
Its proceedings took place in secret ; no advocates were permitted 
to plead, no witnesses were produced. The object was to extort 



A.D. 1234-li>41. INQUISITION ESTABLISHED AT TOULOUSE. 155 

the confession of crime through the moral and physical prostra- 
tion of the miserable victim ; and to this end the most iniquitous 
and revolting means were employed without scruple ; the most 
subtle trickery, the most unblushing deceit, the most ruthless tor- 
ture. On certain occasions, which soon became frequent, the Holy 
Office published its sentences and inflicted its punishments. Of 
the latter there were three degrees — those who had made absolute 
submission, and were deemed the least criminal, were admitted to 
penance ; those who had not given complete satisfaction (the most 
numerous class) were immured for life in prison ; those who stub- 
bornly refused to confess, or who relapsed after confession, were 
committed to the flames. 

§ 3. As Louis advanced toward manhood, his mother became 
anxious to pi'ocure for him a suitable alliance in marriage, and de- 
manded on his behalf the hand of Marguerite, the eldest daughter 
of Eaymond Berenger IV., count of Provence. The nuptials were 
celebrated at Sens on the 27th of May, 1234-, Louis having then 
attained the age of nineteen, while the bride was in her thirteenth 
year. Two years later Louis completed his majority, and became 
legally independent of his mother's control. But this produced 
no I'eal change in the direction of affairs. Blanche exacted and 
obtained from her son the same implicit submission as before, and 
continued to the end of her life to exercise over him a predomin- 
ant influence, extending not only to concerns of state, but even to 
the details of his domestic habits. While we may smile at the 
over- watchful solicitude which regulated the intercourse of the 
monarch with his youthful consort, there can be no doubt that, in 
all graver matters, this ascendency of the queen-moth-er, the natu- 
ral result of her great powers of mind and sterling excellence, 
proved of the utmost advantage to the interests of France. 

The marriage and majority of Louis were succeeded by a few 
years of tranquillity, during which little occurred deserving of 
notice. In the summer of 1241 the king solemnly invested his 
brother Alphonso with the government of Poitou and Auvergne, 
according to the provisions of his father's will. The young prince 
convoked his feudatories at Poitiers, and demanded of them the 
oath of homage ; few responded to the summons ; and it soon ap- 
peared that an extensive opposition had been organized to the 
sovereign claims of Louis and his family, based on the ancient con- 
nection of Poitou with the royal house of England. At the head 
of this confederacy was Hugh de Lusignan, count de la Marche — 
the same powerful baron from whom John of England had carried 
off his betrothed bride, and upon whom Queen Isabella had be- 
stowed her hand within a few months after the death of her hus- 
band. The haughty countess, disdaining to exchange her former 



166 LOUIS IX. ■ Chap. IX, 

regal state for the condition of a vassal, labored to form a league 
which should reinstate her son, Henry III. of England, in the pos- 
sessions of his ancestors ; and with such success, that Louis found 
himself suddenly in open hostility with the Kings of England, Ara- 
gon, Castile, and Navarre, tlie Counts of Toulouse and La Marche, 
and most of the great lords of Poitou and Gascony. Hugh de 
Lusignan repaired to Poitiers, and accused Alphonso to his face 
of usurping the domains of Kichard, earl of Cornwall ; then vow- 
ing, in terms of insolent defiance, that he would never become "his 
liegeman, he set fire to the house in which he had passed the night, 
and rode at full speed out of the city. 

Henry IIL crossed over to the assistance of his allies, but at 
the bridge of Taillebourg, on the Charente, he found himself sud- 
denly confronted by the French army, far superior in numbers to 
his own ; and he would have been compelled either to surrender 
or to fight with the certainty of total defeat, had not Richard of 
Cornwall obtained, by personal mediation with Louis, a truce for 
twenty-four hours, which enabled the English to extricate them- 
selves from their perilous position. A battle was fought two 
days afterward (July 22, 1242) beneath the walls of Saintes, in 
which the English and their allies Avere worsted, and driven back 
into the town with severe loss. This engagement decided the fate 
of the campaign. The insurgent barons laid down their arms and 
returned to their allegiance, and Heniy of England accepted the 
offer of a truce for five years, which was signed in March, 1243. 
By this treaty the French acquired possession of all the north of 
Aquitaine as far as the Gironde. 

This war had an important and lasting effect in breaking up 
the independence of the feudal nobility, and establishing the su- 
premacy of the crown over its vassals. The work begun by Philip 
Augustus was thus pursued and completed by his grandson ; the 
privileges of feudalism began from this period to decline, and the 
entire system was visibly shaken. 

§ 4. In 1244, Louis, Avhose bodily constitution was by no means 
strong, suffered severely from an illness brought on by the fatigues 
and exposure of his late campaign ; and toward the close of the 
year the malady gained ground so rapidly that the king was re- 
duced to the borders of the grave. While lying in this desperate 
condition at the chateau of Pontoise, and expecting each moment 
to be his last, he demanded of his attendants a crucifix, which he 
placed upon his breast, and sunk immediately into a state of death- 
like lethargy. This was the crisis of the disease. To the aston- 
ishment and joy of all, the danger passed, and from that hour Louis 
began to recover. It soon transpired that in his extremity he had 
solemnly vowed that, should his life be spared, he would proceed 



A.D. 1241-1248. FIRST CRUSADE OF ST. LOUIS. 167 

on a crusade to the Holy Land. Nor was this the result of mere 
momentary impulse ; Louis had long cherished the design. To 
his exalted piety, bordering on fanatical superstition, no enterprise 
appeared so honorable or so meritorious as those which had for 
their object the liberation or preservation of the Holy Sepulchre ; 
and neither the remonstrances of his mother, the tears of his wife, 
nor the sober reasonings of his prelates and councilors, availed to 
shake his determination. The fulfillment of his project was, how- 
ever, delayed for upward of three years, through the king's tardy 
convalescence, and the necessity of taking deliberate measures of 
preparation for so dangerous a warfare. 

During this interval a fresh opportunity occurred of enlarging 
the possessions of the royal house of France. Raymond Berenger, 
count of Provence, was destitute of male heirs ; of his four daugh- 
ters, the three elder were married respectively to the King of 
France, the King of England, and Richard, earl of Cornwall ; the 
youngest, Beatrice, was declared by her father's will his sole heir- 
ess and successor. She was now married to Charles, count of 
Anjou and Maine, the youngest brother of the King of France, on 
the 31st of January, 1246. 

Louis now devoted his whole attention to the ai'rangements for 
his expedition to the East. The state of Palestine at this period 
was indeed such as to excite the utmost anxiety for the prospects 
of the Christian cause. In 1244 Jerusalem had been taken and 
sacked with savage cruelty by the Kharismians, a people from the 
shores of the Caspian, who had been driven from their territory 
by the victorious arms of the Mongol Tartars. In a subsequent 
battle at Gaza the Christians were defeated with tremendous car- 
nage ; thirty thousand are said to have fallen on this disastrous 
field, and the three military Orders were almost annihilated. Not 
long afterward the Kharismians were expelled from Syria by the 
Saracens of Egypt, and the Holy Land was once more subjected 
to the tyrannical rule of the Egyptian sultan. The power and in- 
fluence of the Latins sank to the lowest point of depression ; noth- 
ing now remained of all their former possessions in the East but 
the fortresses of Acre and Tyre, together with Tripoli and Antioch. 

Louis received the oriflamme at St. Denis in June, 1248, and 
having confided the government of France to his mother, whom 
he was not destined to meet again in this world, he embarked on 
the 25th of August at Aigues Mortes, a city which he had found- 
ed at great expense on the MediteiTanean, accompanied by Queen 
Marguerite, and by his brothers Charles of Anjou and Robert of 
Artois, with their countesses. The mariners sung in chorus the 
" Veni Creator," and the fleet of the Crusaders, consisting of thir- 
ty-eight large vessels besides transports, stood out to sea and steer- 
ed for Cyprus. 



168 LOUIS IX. Chap. IX. 

The island of Cyprus was then ruled by Henri de Lusignan, 
grandson of the prince of that fainily to whom the kingdom had 
been adjudged at the time of the third Crusade. Here Louis land- 
ed on the 17th of September, and made a prolonged stay of eight 
months in the island, which he had assigned as a general rendez- 
vous to the princes and nobles engaged in the expedition. It was 
now resolved, instead of proceeding direct to Palestine, to make 
an attack upon the Sultan of Egypt, as a decisive success obtained 
over this potentate would at once insure the possession of the 
Holy Land. The plan was well conceived, and, had it been im- 
mediately executed, might have produced a fortunate result ; but 
the ill-advised delay at Cyprus gave ample time to the Saracens 
for preparation and resistance. 

When the armament at length sailed from Limisso in May, 1249, 
it numbered sixteen hundred vessels of all sizes, conveying at least 
two thousand eight hundred knights, with a proportionate force 
of infantry, variously estimated at from forty to one hundred thou- 
sand. Arriving before the Egyptian port of Damietta on the 4th 
of June, the Crusaders effected their disembarkation in spite of a 
stout opposition from the Saracens, among whom the Mameluke 
horsemen distinguished themselves by their brilliant bravery. 
Such was the terror inspired by the assailants, that the infidels 
abandoned Damietta the next day, and on the 7th of June the 
Kings of France and Cyprus, at the head of the crusading army, 
made their triumphal entry into the city. So far success had 
crowned their arms ; but, instead of pressing forward without 
pause to overwhelm the disheartened enemy, the Christian leaders 
committed the fatal error of lingering at Damietta until after the 
annual inundation of the Nile. Five months were thus consumed 
in inactivity, and during this interval the soldiers of the Cross 
gave themselves up to every kind of vicious excess, so that dis- 
order and demoralization reigned throughout the army. On the 
20th of November the army at last advanced, and directed its 
march upon Mansourah. A broad and deep canal, communicat- 
ing Avith the Nile, soon arrested the progress of the invaders ; on 
the farther side was the town of Mansourah and the camp of the 
Mussulmans. An attempt was made to construct a causeway 
across the current, in the course of which the enemy carried havoc 
into the Christian ranks by incessant discharges of arrows and 
stones, and, above all, by the terrible and mysterious "Greek fire." 
A ford was at last discovered ; and at daylight on the 8th of Feb- 
ruary, 1250, the Count of Artois and the Earl of Salisbury, with 
the Knights Templars and tlie vanguard of the army, impetuously 
dashed into the stream, overthrew the Saracens who lined the op- 
posite bank, and chased them with great slaugliter into INIansou- 



A.D. 1248-1250. BATTLE OF MANSOURAH. ]G9 

rah. They rallied, however, and, barrhig the gates of the town, 
cut off the retreat of the Christian troops ; the latter fought hero- 
ically, but were overpowered and destroyed almost to a man in the 
narrow streets of Mansourah. The Count of Artois and the Earl 
of Salisbury, with five hundred knights and two hundred Tem- 
plars, lost their lives in this disaster. In a second battle fought 
on the following day the advantage remained with the Crusaders ; 
but they were now attacked by a pestilential miasma arising from 
the vast heaps of putrefying corpses which covered the plain and 
choked the canal ; and after a fruitless attempt to negotiate with 
the enemy, Louis commenced a forced and calamitous retreat. 
The infidels hung on the rear of the devoted army, hai-assing them 
at every step, and mowing them down by hundreds, almost unre- 
sistingly, whenever they chose to attack. On the 6th of April the 
king, sinking under disease and exhaustion, surrendered uncondi- 
tionally to the Saracens, and was carried back in chains to Man- 
sourah. The greater part of his unfortunate troops were massa- 
cred in cold blood ; some were spared on condition of embracing 
Mohammedanism ; others, of the richer class, purchased life and 
liberty at the price of enormous ransoms. 

Louis displayed in his adversity an unshaken firmness, dignity, 
and magnanimity, which extorted the admiration even of his sav- 
age captors. The Saracen sultan soon showed himself disposed 
to treat for the king's liberation, and demanded as his ransom the 
restitution of Damietta, and the payment of a million bezants of 
gold.* These terms were accepted without hesitation by Louis; 
and his noble chai'acter made such an impression upon the sultan, 
that he voluntarily remitted two hundred thousand bezants of the 
stipulated sum. A truce for ten years Avas now concluded be- 
tween the Christian powers, represented by the King of France, 
and the Mussulman princes of Egypt and Syria. 

The regent Blanche, as soon as she heard of her son's release, 
pressed him with urgent entreaties to return to France ; but a 
keen sense of his recent humiliation, and the obligation of his yet 
unaccomplished vow, determined the good king to make a pro- 
longed sojourn in the Holy Land, where he hoped that his presence 
might beneficially serve the cause of Christendom. He remained, 
therefore, four years in Palestine, and occupied himself in repair- 
ing the fortifications of the maritime cities — Acre, Ceesarea, Jaffli, 
and Sidon — and in improving the relations of the Christians with 
the neighboring native princes. From all warlike operations he 
was restrained by his truce with the Egyptian sultan ; and he de- 
nied himself, for various reasons of policy, the consolation of visit- 
ing Jerusalem and worshiping at the sepulchre of Christ. 
* About £aSO,00(>. 



170 LOUIS IX. Chap. IX. 

During the prolonged absence of Louis from his kingdom the 
queen-mother continued to watch over every department of the 
government with imceasing vigilance and wisdom. In 1251 great 
apprehension and agitation were excited in France by the strange 
and unexplained rising of the "Pastoui'eaux." Vast multitudes 
of ignorant, deluded peasants, under the guidance of a mysterious 
adventurer styled "le Maitre de Hongrie," overran the provinces, 
venting clamorous outcries against the Church, the bishops, and 
the monastic orders, and spreading universal terror by their violent 
excesses. Blanche, imagining that this movement might be turn- 
ed to advantage for the succor of the king and his army, then in 
captivity, regarded it at first with favor ; but soon discerning its 
alai'ming character, she interposed with a strong arm to suppress 
it. Despei'ate tumults marked the progress of this furious rabble, 
occasioning a deplorable sacrifice of life. At Orleans the whole 
populace rose upon the defenseless priests, twenty-five of whom 
were massacred. The regent now issued orders to her ofiicers to 
put down the insurrection by force ; and the ringleader, being 
overtaken near Bourges, was attacked and slain on the spot, with 
several of his followers. Other executions succeeded, and these 
wholesome severities produced a decisive effect ; the main body 
of the insurgents rapidly dispersed, and the danger was at an end. 

Thjs was one of the last events of importance in the adminis- 
tration of the regent Blanche. That admirable princess died to- 
ward the close of the year 1253 ; and no sooner did the melan- 
choly tidings reach the king in Palestine than he determined to 
return without delay to France. He made his public entry into 
Pai'is on the 7tli of September, 1254, having been absent upward 
of six years. It was observed that his countenance bore the traces 
of profound and settled grief — arising, says the chronicler,* from 
the consciousness that his ill success had brought disgrace and 
confusion upon Christendom. 

§ 5. Resuming the labors of his ordinary government, Louis ex- 
emplified more and more his characteristic virtues of moderation, 
forbearance, and scrupulous love of justice. We are told that he 
was troubled in conscience on account of the acquisitions made 
by his grandfather from the crown of England, of which he doubt- 
ed the legality. He had already made more than one offer of 
restitution to Henry III. ; and in 1259 a treaty was signed, con- 
trary to the advice of the French barons, by which the districts 
of Limousin, Perigord, Quercy. and Saintonge were ceded to the 
English monai'ch, who on his part abandoned his claims upon 
Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou. It is a remark- 
able testimony to the high qualities thus manifested by Louis, that 
* Matthew Paris. 



A.D. 1250-1269. MODERATION OF LOUIS. 171 

the King of England and his revolted barons, after years of san- 
guinaiy strife, agreed to submit their differences to the arbitration 
of the King of France. 

Another instance of the conscientious and disinterested policy 
of Louis was his refusal of the cx'own of Sicily, which was tender- 
ed to him in 1262 by Pope Urban IV. It was true that Manfred, 
the actual occupant of the throne, was a usurper ; but Louis would 
not, on that account, do aught in prejudice of the rights of the 
youthful Conradine, the legitimate heir after the death of his fa- 
ther Conrad. He returned a decided negative to the papal ap- 
peal, both on his own behalf and on that of his son Robert. The 
court of Rome now addressed the same overtures to Charles of 
Anjou, and met with a prompt and joyful response from that am- 
bitious pi'ince. Louis was probably not sorry that his uncongen- 
ial brother should be removed from France, and, though he would 
not actively encoui'age, at all events did nothing to oppose his 
views. Charles was accordingly invested with the kingdom of 
the Two Sicilies as a fief of the Holy See, and embarked at Mar- 
seilles in May, 1265, to measure himself against Manfred and fight 
his way to the throne. The chivalry of France enlisted eagerly 
in the crusade which was preached against the usurper by order 
of Clement IV. ; 5000 knights crowded to the standard of Charles; 
and it was French valor that triumphed on the bloody field of 
GranAslla near Benevento — fought February 27, 1266 — in which 
Manfred perished, and the sceptre of Naples was transferred from 
the house of HohenstanfFen to that of Anjou. Two years of sys- 
tematic tyranny followed ; and several of the Italian cities, dis- 
gusted with the rule of Charles, ui'ged the young Prince Conrad- 
ine to undertake a campaign for the recovery of the throne of his 
ancestoue. The gallant youth was defeated and made prisoner at 
the battle of Tagliacozzo, in August, 1268; languished in con- 
finement for' upward of a' year, and, having at length undergone 
the solemn mockery of a trial, was beheaded, to the eternal infamy 
of Charles, in the public square at Naples, on the 26th of October, 
1269. This inhuman deed laid the foundation of the lengthened 
and sanguinary contest for the possession of Southern Italy and 
Sicily between the line of Anjou and the princes of the house of 
Aragon, who succeeded to the rights, and became the avengers 
of the murdered Conradine. 

§ 6. While Louis thus showed himself proof against all tempta- 
tions of personal and worldly ambition, he was meditating with 
calm resolution a second expedition to the East under the banner 
of the Cross. Ever since his first crusade he had continued to 
wear the sacred synibol on his shoulder, in token that he deemed 
his vow still unfulfilled. The tidings which reached liim from year 



172 LOUIS IX. Chap. IX, 

to year of fresh discomfitures and calamities in Palestine served 
only to raise his ardor to a higher pitch ; and although discour- 
aged even by the Pope himself, the king held firm to his purpose, 
and pressed forward the necessary preparations. The crusading 
mania had by this time greatly subsided throughout Europe ; but 
a partial reaction was occasioned by the startling successes of the 
Mameluke Emir Bibars, who rapidly reduced the principal Latin 
fortresses, and on the 29th of May, 1268, planted his standards 
on the walls of Antioch. The fall of this capital was fatal to the 
Christian power; 17,000 of the inhabitants were massacred, and 
upward of 100,000 sold into slavery. Acre and Tripoli were tlie 
only places that held out against the conquerors. 

The devout enthusiasm of Louis attracted round him a numer- 
ous body of princes and nobles from all quarters, notwithstanding 
what was felt to be the desperate nature of the enterprise. Thi-ee 
of his sons assumed the cross, the youngest of whom, Jean Tristan, 
duke of Nevers, had been born at Damietta amid the disasters of 
the preceding crusade ; he was also joined by his bi'others Charles 
of Anjou and Alphonse of Toulouse, his nephew Kobert, count of 
Artois, and Thibald of Champagne and Navarre. Sailing from 
Aigues-Mortes on the 1st of July, 1270, Louis touched first at 
Cagliari in Sardinia, and here formed the singular resolution of 
proceeding to the coast of Tunis, his motive being, as is affirmed, 
that the king of that country had intimated a disposition io em- 
brace Christianity. This scheme was warmly seconded by Charles 
of Anjou, not on religious grounds, but from secret covetous de- 
signs upon the territory of Tunis, which, lying opposite to Sicily, 
he hoped to annex as a valuable appendage to his own crown. 
The fleet arrived in sight of Tunis on the 17th of July ; the dis- 
embarkation was effected the next day, and on the 24th the an- 
cient Moorish fort of Carthage was taken by assault, and the gar- 
rison put to the sword. The King of Tunis naturally met these 
hostilities by immediate preparations to march against the invad- 
ers ; and meanwhile Louis, who had not yet been joined by Charles 
of Anjou and his Sicilian forces, lay inactive for a whole month at 
Carthage, exposing his army to the scorching sun and malignant 
climate of Africa. The pestilence soon broke out in the camp, 
and within the space of a few days committed fearful ravages. 
Among the earliest Avho sank under it was the king's son, Jean 
Tristan ; he was followed by the Pope's legate and many of the 
principal barons and knights. At length King Louis was himself 
attacked by the fatal epidemic, and, being already in an enfeebled 
state of health, seems to have perceived at once that his end was 
approaching. He lingered for twenty-two days, engaged in devo- 
tion, giving wise and admirable counsel to his son, consoling his 



A.D. 12G9, 1270. HIS SECOND CEUSADE AI^D DEATH. 173 

distressed attendants, and exhibiting a perfect model of Christian 
resignation and equanimity. In his last moments he caused him- 
.self to be laid upon a bed of ashes, and in this situation peaceful- 
ly expired on the 25th of August, 1270, with the words of the 
Psalmist on his lips: "I will enter into thy house, O Lord; I 
will worship in thy holy tabernacle." He had attained the age 
of fifty-six years, of which his reign had lasted forty-four. 

Louis IX. stands forth in history an ever-memorable instance of 
the inherent power of high moral and religious principle, when 
faithfully and consistently carried out through a whole life. This 
prince Avas not endowed with shining talents ; his acquirements in 
knowledge were not remarkable ; he was not a great military com- 
mander; he frequently forbore to make use of advantages which 
fairly belonged to him, through an over-scrupulous and excessive 
moderation. Yet such was his weight of character, that no sover- 
eign ever exercised a more wide-spread influence over his age, and 
none ever promoted more effectually the advancement, happiness, 
and true greatness of his kingdom. Voltaire, no partial panegyrist 
in such a case, has said of him that " it is not given to man to car- 
ry virtue to a higher point." Louis was canonized on the 11th 
of August, 1297, by Pope Bonifece VIIL 

§ 7. Charles of Anjovx landed at Carthage almost at the very mo- 
ment of his brother's decease, and is said to have been profoundly 
affected by his loss. He conducted with ability the subsequent op- 
erations of the crusade, and, having defeated the King of Tunis in 
two bloody engagements, forced him to make peace upon terms hon- 
orable and advantageous to France and the Christian cause. The 
French, who had suffered tremendous losses, now became anxious 
to regain their country; but Prince Edward of England, arriving 
with -re-enforcements toward the end of October, resolved to fulfill 
liis vow by proceeding to attack the Mamelukes in Palestine, with 
however small an armament. Accordingly, having wintered in 
Sicily, he sailed in the spring for Syria, with a force of about 1200 
lances ; here he signalized himself by the capture of Nazareth, and 
other daring exploits, but was unable to effect any thing of perma- 
nent or decisive importance. Having concluded a truce for ten 
years with the Sultan Bibars, Edward returned to England in Au- 
gust, 1272. 

Such were the expiring efforts of that wild yet noble enthusiasm 
which for the space of two centuries impelled Europe to expend so 
lavishly her blood and treasure for the conquest of the Holy Land. 
The sacred flame lingered in the socket for several years before its 
final extinction, but no farther expeditions to the I^ast were un- 
dertaken by the Christian world at large. The cries of their dis- 
tressed brethren were heard without response, and almost Avithout 



174 PHILIP III. ^ Chap. IX. 

inteKSt, by the Western nations ; and the fall of Acre, in 1291, at 
length destroyed the last solitary remnant of the Latin dominion 
in Palestine. The era of the Crusades Avas past. 

§ 8. Philip III. (le Hardi), 1270-1285.— The throne of France 
was now inherited by Philip III., afterward surnamed le Hardi, or 
the Bold, the eldest of the four sons of St. Louis. He was twenty- 
five years old at the time of his accession; unhappily, his educa- 
tion had been grievously neglected, and, as a natural consequence, 
his character was feeble, superstitious, and destitute of lofty qual- 
ities. Philip's reign opened under melancholy circumstances ; Ins 
fleet was shattered by a violent tempest on the passage from Tunis 
to Trapani in Sicily ; this disaster was soon followed by the death 
of Thibald, king of Navarre, and of his queen Isabella, sister to 
Philip ; and at an interval of a few weeks, his own wife, Isabella 
of Ar agon, having injured hei'self by a fall when far advanced in 
pregnancy, died at Cosenza after delivery of a still-born child. To 
add to the list of the victims of the late fatal crusade, Alphonso, 
count of Poitou and Toulouse, and his wife Jeanne, the heiress of 
Eaymond VII. , both expired at Savona on their homeward journey. 

Bearing Avitli him in mournful procession the remains of no 
less than five members of the royal family, Philip entered Paris 
on the 21st of May, 1721, and performed Avith great solemnity the 
obsequies of his father at St. Denis. 

The French monarchy now made several large territorial ac- 
quisitions. Alphonso and Jeanne of Toulouse having died with- 
out heirs, the whole of their vast possessions were, according to the 
terms of the treaty Avith Eaymond VII., united to the royal do- 
main. The small county of Venaissin, forming part of this terri- 
tory, was ceded by Philip to the Pope, in virtue of an agreement 
to that eifect Avith Eaymond. It consisted of the city of Avignon 
and the district surrounding it ; and this part of Provence re- 
mained subject to the See of Eome down to the period of the great 
Eevolution of 1789. 

The king's brothers, Jean Tristan and Pierre, died likeAvise 
Avithout heirs, and their appanages, the counties of Valois and Alen- 
(;on, reverted to the crown. Lastly, upon the death of Henry, 
king of Navarre, in 1274, his AvidoAV, a French princess, iled for 
protection, Avith her infant daughter, to the court of Philip. The 
king gave a cordial reception to the fugitives, and caused the young 
heiress to be carefully educated in France. On reaching a mar- 
riageable age she bestoAved her hand on the king's second son, 
Philip, who eventually succeeded his father, and thus became the 
first king of France and Navarre. By the same alliance the croAvn 
also gained possession of the important territory of Champagne. 

§ 9. Tlie contemporary chronicles of tliis period of P>ench liisto- 



A.D. 1270-1278. PIEKRE DE LA BROSSE. I75 

ry are few and obscure, and give us but scanty information either 
as to the personal character of the monarch or the transactions of 
his reign. The person who possessed the greatest influence at 
court and in the kingdom was Pierre de la Brosse, the son of a 
poor gentleman in Touraine ; he is said to have been surgeon to 
Louis IX., who distinguished him by his highest confidence. Upon 
the accession of Philip, Pierre de la Brosse acquired at once the 
chief post of power, and became the sole channel of royal favor. 
It is not surprising that in this invidious position he should have 
excited the jealousy and enmity of Philip's second wife, Maiy, sis- 
ter of the Duke of Brabant, to whom he was married in 1274. 
The queen, young, talented, and fascinating, exercised a great as- 
cendency over her husband, and gi'adually insinuated suspicions 
against the haughty minister ; the favorite, on his part, made no 
scruple to fill the royal ear Avith doubts, complaints, and preju- 
dices against the character and designs of the queen. It happened 
that the king's eldest son by his first marriage died suddenly in 
1276, and, as was commonly imagined, by poison; Pierre de la 
Brosse clandestinely spread a report that the author of the crime 
v/as none other than the queen herself, who had an evident inter- 
est in attempting to secure the succession to the crown to her own 
offspring. Philip seems to have listened too easily to the accusa- 
tion ; but, in order to discover the truth, he was prevailed on to 
consult a Beguine, or reputed prophetess, of Nivelles, and by her 
answers the queen was completely cleared of all participation in 
the deed imputed to her. The Duke of Brabant and other connec- 
tions of the queen now vowed vengeance, and a packet of letters, 
either genuine or forged, was conveyed secretly to Philip, and es- 
tablished in his mind the guilt of the favorite. Pierre de la Brosse 
Avas tried at Paris by a commission composed of his declared ene- 
mies, and, being as a matter of coui'se condemned, was hanged on 
a gibbet at Montfaucon on the 30th of June, 1278. The contents 
of the dispatches Avhich sealed his fate were never allowed to 
transpire, and no information was given to the public as to the 
nature of the crime for which he suffei'ed. The whole affair is 
involved in obscurity, and there is reason to believe that the par- 
venu minister was the victim of certain envious and disappointed 
nobles Avhom he had excluded from political power. 

§ 10. The chief interest of this reign is connected with the do- 
minion of the French, under Charles of Anjou, in Naples and Sicily. 
Chai'les had made himself virtually master of all Italy ; but his 
tyrannical and cruel yoke soon rendered him odious throughout his 
new kingdom, and an extensive conspiracy was organized against 
him by John of Procida, a Neapolitan nobleman who had enjoyed 
high favor under the Holienstauffen dynasty, and whom Charles 



17G PHILIP III. Chap. IX. 

had on tliat account proscribed and driven inio exile. With great 
energy and perseverance, John of Procida succeeded in engaging in 
the plot Pedro II., king of Aragon, Pope Nicholas III., and the 
Greek Emperor Palteologus ; and the first of these monarchs was 
preparing to descend with a powerful armament upon the coast of 
Sicily, when an accident anticipated the plans of the confederates, 
and suddenly lit up the flame of revolution throughout that island. 

As the citizens of Palermo flocked to vespers on one of the fes- 
tivals of Easter week, March 30, 1282, a French soldier grossly in- 
sulted a young and beautiful Sicilian maiden in the presence of her 
betrothed husband ; the latter instantly drew his dagger and stab- 
bed the offender to the heart. This was the signal for a violent 
explosion of popular fury; cries of "Death to the French !" re- 
sounded on all sides ; upward of two hundred were cut down on 
the spot, and the massacre was continued in the streets of Paler- 
mo through the whole night. From the capital the insurrection 
spread to Messina, from Messina to the other towns of the island ; 
every where the French were ruthlessly butchered, without dis- 
tinction of age, sex, or condition ; the total number of the slain is 
said to have exceeded eight thousand. Such was the terrible ca- 
tastrophe of the " Sicilian Vespers." 

Charles, in deep indignation, now hastened to Sicily, and laid 
siege to Messina, which made a gallant and obstinate resistance for 
two months. Meanwhile Pedro of Aragon, to whom, as husband 
of Constance, the only daughter of Manfred, had descended the an- 
cient claims of the house of Hohenstauffen, landed at Trapani, and 
was crowned King of Sicily at Montreale. His fleet, under the 
command of the celebi'ated admiral Roger de Loria, encountered 
that of Charles in the Straits of Messina and gained a brilliant 
victory, almost all the Neapolitan ships being captured and burnt. 
Charles beheld this disaster from the heights of the opposite coast 
of Calabria. 

Pope Martin IV. forthwith excommunicated Pedro for levying 
war upon a fief of the Holy See, and absolved his subjects from 
their oath of allegiance. In August, 1283, a bull was issued by 
which the dominions of the King of Aragon were conferred upon 
Charles, count of Valois, second son of Philip HI., on condition 
that the young prince should acknowledge himself a vassal of the 
See of Rome, and that the crown of Aragon should never be united 
to that of France. A ci'usade was preached against the Aragon- 
ese and the rebellious Sicilians, with the accustomed indulgences 
and privileges to all who should engage in it ; and the French, 
thirsting to avenge the slaughter of their countrymen, thronged 
early around the standards of Philip and Charles. 

Fortune, however, declared itself speedily and decisively in fa- 



A.D. 1278-1285. PHILIP III. INVADES AEAGON. I77 

vor of Pedro and his new subjects, and against the two branches 
of the royal house of France. Roger de Loria, the most skillful 
admiral of his time, defeated the fleets of Chai'les in two successi\e 
engagements off Malta and the Bay of Naples ; on the latter occa- 
sion the Prince of Salerno, Charles's eldest son, fell into the hands 
of the enemy, and was sent prisoner to Spain. On hearing of this 
fresh humiliation, Charles of Anjou gave Avay to the wildest trans- 
ports of rage and despair. Unable to bear up under such ac- 
cumulated misfortunes, he fell ill and died at Foggia (some say by 
his own hand) on the 7tli of January, 1285. The death of Pope 
Martin IV. occurred within three months afterward. 

§ 11. Philip III., accompanied by his sons Philip and Charles, 
joined his army in Languedoc soon after Easter in the same year, 
and marched into lioussillon at the head of 20,000 knights and 
80,000 foot soldiers. Advancing toward the passes of the eastern 
Pyrenees, the French possessed themselves of the small town and 
fortress of Elne, the inhabitants of which were put to the sword. 
The army now descended into Aragon, and sat down before Gerona. 
This place made a vigorous resistance, and capitulated on the 7th 
of September, after a siege of nearly three months. But meanwhile 
the troops of Philip had suffered severely from the heat of the cli- 
mate and from contagious disease, and his fleet had twice been 
roughly handled in the Bay of Rosas l6y the invincible Roger de Lo- 
ria. The king became disheartened, abandoned his projects of con- 
quest, and thought only of making good his retreat into his own 
dominions. But the rains of autumn now set in, and the retro- 
grade movementlthrough the mountains, in the distressed condition 
of the army, was one of no small difficulty and danger. The march 
commenced, and the French, though constantly harassed in their 
rear by the Aragonese, and exposed at every step to serious losses, 
attained at length the borders of their own territory, beyond which 
they were pursued no farther. The king, however, was sinking 
imder an attack of malignant fever, the effects of which were doubt- 
less aggravated by his state of bodily exhaustion and mental cha- 
grin. On reaching Perpignan it was evident that he had but a 
few days to live; he expired in that city on. the 5lh of October, 
1285, at the age of forty. His antagonist, Pedro of Aragon, sur- 
vived him scarcely more than a month ; he fell a victim to the 
same fatal malady on the 11th of November following. 

§ 12. Piiiup IV. (le Bel), 1 285-1314.— The reign of Philip IV., 
surnamed le Bel, or the Fair, who now succeeded to the throne, is 
in many respects one of the most important in the annals of France. 
Tlie roji\\ authority was extended in his hands more rapidly than 
under any of liis predecessors, and reached a point closely approach- 
ing simple despotism. Philip systematically repressed and hum- 

H2 



178 PHILIP IV. Chap. IX. 

bled the power of the great vassals, and almost totally destroyed 
their independence. At the same time he encouraged and ele- 
vated the bourgeoisie, or middle classes, and by skillfully opposing 
them to the nobility, made them the subservient instruments of 
establishing his own absolute rule. Civil institutions now began 
to pi-edominate over the military forms of feudalism. The Parlia- 
ment of Paris became the recognized organ of the supreme central 
administration — judicial, fiscal, and executive; the minor feudal 
courts were superseded, and all causes throughout the kingdom be- 
came directly subject to the royal jurisdiction. It is in this reign, 
again, that we find the States-General, or great council of the na- 
tion, convoked under its modern constitutional form, in three or- 
ders — the Tiers Etat, or representatives of the people, sitting and 
voting on an equal footing with the Nobles and Clergy. Lastly, 
this epoch is memorable for a fierce and deadly struggle between 
the temporal and the ecclesiastical powers — the Regale and the 
Pontificate. It was Philip the Fair who struck the first success- 
ful blow against the towering fabric of the papal dominion ; it 
was he who overthrew the mighty system founded by Hildebrand. 
From this date the popes may be said to have ceased to be foi*- 
midable to the social state of Europe. 

Philip found himself burdened and embarrassed, on his acces- 
sion, by the war with Aragon, which had proved fatal to his fa- 
ther. It was brought to a conclusion in 1291, when a treaty was 
signed at Tarascon, by which Charles of Valois absolutely re- 
nounced all pretensions to the Aragonese crown, and received by 
way of compensation the hand of the Princess Marguerite of An- 
jou, with the counties of Anjou and Maine for her dowiy. The 
King of Aragon, on his part, engaged that his brother James should 
restore Sicily to the house of Anjou. Although peace was thus 
established, Charles IT. never succeeded in reconciling the Sicilians 
to the rule of his family. He and his posterity reigned at Naples, 
while Sicily became a separate independent state under a younger 
branch of the rival house of Aragon. 

§ 13. Philip owed the removal of his difficulties with the house 
of Aragon chiefly to the good offices of his kinsman Edward I. of 
England ; notwithstanding which, while the latter prince was oc- 
cupied with his ambitious enterprises against Scotland, the French 
king took advantage of the favorable moment to embroil him in a 
quarrel, with a view to dispossess him of his duchy of Guienne or 
Aquitaine. A pretext occurred in 1292, in an accidental collision 
between some English and Norman mariners in the port of Bay- 
onne. One of the Normans lost his life in the scuffle, and his 
comrades, in revenge, seized the first vessel that they chanced to 
meet, and bnng the cnptain or pilot at tlic masthoad, with a dog 



A. D. 1285-1297. AVAR WITH ENGLAND. 179 

tied to liis feet. Hostile passion was now violently excited on 
both sides, and a savage war ensued between the stout seamen of 
the Cinque Ports and the merchant navy of France — unsanction- 
ed, hmvever, at first by the authorities of either government. In 
April, 1293, the Normans were defeated in a desperate pitched 
battle near St. Malo, on the coast of Brittany, their entire fleet be- 
ing captured or destroyed by the English ; and the victors after- 
ward surprised La Rochelle, where they committed great havoc, 
murdering many of the inhabitants. The officers of the King of 
France now summoned the delinquents to answer for these out- 
rages before the royal courts ; the English retorted by strictly 
prohibiting all subjects of Edward from pleading at any other tri- 
bunal than that of their own sovereign, on pain of being proceeded 
against as traitors. At this point Philip interposed in person, 
and cited Edward himself, as Duke of Aquitaine, to appear before 
the Parliament of Pains within twenty days after Christmas, 1293, 
to answer charges then to be preferred against him by his suze- 
rain. Edward, who well knew that Philip's court was one of the 
most servile instruments of his despotic power, declined to obey, 
but sent as his representative his brother Edmund, earl of Lan- 
caster, who, inexperienced and unsuspicious, allowed himself to be 
completely outwitted by the crafty Philip. Having demanded, as 
a matter of mere form, that Guienne should be given up to his 
lieutenants until the details of a definitive arrangement should be 
settled, Philip was no sooner put in possession of the principal 
towns than he threw off the mask, declared Edward contumacious 
by reason of his non-appearance, and pronounced the forfeiture of 
all his fi^ held of the crown of France. 

Edward, exasperated by this gross deception, instantly renounced 
his fealty to his liege lord, and prepared for war. He was support- 
ed in this contest by the Duke of Brittany, by Guy de Dampierre, 
count of Flanders, and by Adolphus of Nassau, king of the Ro- 
mans — a threatening coalition against Philip. Hostilities com- 
menced in Gascony in December, 1294, and were continued for 
two years with changeful fortune, the advantage on the whole be- 
ing on the side of the French ; Edwai'd was indeed unable to press 
the operations with vigor, his best troops being engaged in Scot- 
land and in repressing the frequent insurrections of the "Welsh. 
Pope Boniface "VIII. attempted, but ineffectually, to mediate a 
truce ; and his officious intei'ference in this quai'rel seems to have 
ficiven rise to the bitter and persevering enmity borne to him by 
I'hilip for the rest of his days. 

"While the war thus languished in the south, the King of France 
assembled a large force at Compiegne for an expedition against 
Gu}' of Flanders, the most powerful and stcadfost of the allies of 

/ 



180 PHILIP IV. Chap. IX. 

England. Two years previously the count had been treacherous- 
ly entrapped by Philip to Paris, where he was imprisoned in the 
tower of the Louvre ; he was released only on condition that his 
daughter Philippa, who was betrothed to the eldest son of Edward, 
should be surrendered as a captive in his place. Smarting under 
this insult, the count now threw off his allegiance to France, and 
made other hostile demonstrations. The French army advanced 
in two great divisions into Flanders in June, 1297 ; the king, in 
person, laid siege to Lille, while Kobert of Artois invaded the 
western and maritime districts. In a general engagement near 
the tpwn of Furnes the Flemish were routed with a loss of three 
thousand men, and the submission of the whole of West Flanders 
was the immediate consequence of the defeat. The king was no 
less successful; he gained a battle near Comines, forced Lille and 
Courtrai to open their gates, and pressed on against the count and 
his ally the King of England, who were posted at Bruges. They 
retired, on his approach, to Ghent, and demanded a suspension of 
arms, which was at once granted ; and the mediation of the Pope 
being now tendered a second time, it was agreed on both sides to 
accept it — with the distinct understanding, however, that Boniface 
should arbitrate not in his spiritual, but in his private and indi- 
vidual capacity. A year elapsed before Boniface announced the 
conditions of definitive peace. He decided that each monarch 
should retain that part of Gascony of which he was possessed at 
the moment of the treaty ; all ships, merchandise, and property of 
whatsoever kind, seized during the war, Avere to be mutually re- 
stored ; and the two royal houses were recommended to connect 
themselves by a double marriage. These terms being fjftented to, 
the treaty of peace between France and England was signed at 
Montreuil-sur-Mer, June 19th, 1299. In the following September 
the English king espoused the Princess Marguerite, Philip's eldest 
sister ; and Edward, prince of Wales, was at the same time affi- 
anced to Philip's daughter Isabella, then not moie than six years 
old. The two kings mutually sacrificed their allies, who were not 
included in the treaty: Edwai'd abandoned the cause of the Count 
of Flanders ; Philip covenanted to give no farther support to the 
revolted Scots. 

§ 14. Thus relieved from solicitude on the side of England, 
Philip was enabled to give free scope to his ambitious projects 
against Flanders, which was left almost entirely at his mercy. 
Early in the year 1300 a French army M-as poured into the coun- 
try under the command of Charles of Valois, and took possession 
without resistance of Douai, Bethune, and Damme. The Count 
Guy, with the remnant of his forces, was at Ghent, where he stood 
on his defense ; but he soon perceived that his position was hope- 



A.D. 1297-1302. WAR WITH THE FLEMINGS. 1.31 

less ; and yielding to the advice of Charles of Valois, who assured 
him most positively of the clemency and good-will of Philip, he 
caused the gates of the city to be thrown open to the French, 
and surrendei-ed himself to their leader, together with his two sons 
and his principal barons. Charles dispatched his prisoners with- 
out delay to Paris, and here they experienced that treatment which 
they might have expected from the known character of Philip. 
The count and his sons were closely confined in the Chatelet, and 
the nobles in other fortresses near the capital. The county of 
Flanders was declared forfeited, and annexed to the crown of 
France. A few months later, Philip and his consort, attended by 
a brilliant court, made a sumptuous progress through the chief 
cities of the conquered province. The Flemings, among whom the 
deprived count had never been popular, welcomed their new sov- 
ereign with lively demonstrations of joy ; the towns vied with each 
other in the splendor of their festivities, and in the ostentatious 
display of that wealth, luxury, and magnificence for which Flan- 
ders was at that time pre-eminent in Europe. An entertainment 
given at Bruges was especially distinguished by the radiant beauty 
and rich attire of the female nobility : " I thought I was the only 
queen here," exclaimed the envious Jeanne of Navarre ; " but I 
find myself surrounded on all sides by queens." The king return- 
ed to Paris exulting in an acquisition which enabled him to replen- 
ish at will his exhausted exchequer, and thus furnish himself with 
the means of future enterprises. He left as viceroy in Flanders 
Jacques de Chatillon, brother of the Count de St. Pol, who soon 
proved that he had fully imbibed the spirit of his master, 

§ 15. The Flemings quickly discovered that by their union with 
F'rance they had exchanged their ancient liberties for a grinding 
and insupportable tyranny. The insolence, avarice, and exactions 
of Chritillon knew no bounds ; at Bruges, especially, he exasper- 
ated the burghers by a haughty contempt of their rights and im- 
munities, and by the vexatious restraints and burdens which he 
imposed upon their commerce. With a free and high-spirited 
race revolt was the inevitable consequence ; it burst forth at Bru- 
ges in March, 1302 ; the tocsin sounded at dead of night in all 
quarters of the town, and the enraged citizens, under the guidance 
of Peter Koning, syndic of the weavers, massacred the helpless and 
panic-struck French to the number of upward of three thousand. 

Chatillon barely escaped with life, and fled precipitately to Paris. 
Burning with indignation, Philip once more ordered his forces into 
Flanders, under the command of the impetuous Robert of Artois, 
to inflict summary chastisement upon the rebels. Tlie Heraings, 
numbering about twenty thousand, steadily awaited the royal 
army under the walls of Courti'ai, their line being protected in 



182 PHILIP IV. Chap. IX. 

front by a canal, which, flowing between high embankments, was 
concealed from the view of the advancing enemy. The French 
rushed on with foolhardy confidence, not even taking the precau- 
tion to reconnoitre the ground ; the consequence was, that all the 
leading files of their horsemen, blindly charging at full gallop, 
plunged headlong into the canal ; the column of infantry behind 
staggered, became confused, and at length fell into irretrievable 
disorder. The Flemings now crossed the canal at two points si- 
multaneously, and, assaiUng on both flanks the disorganized masses 
of the enemy, slaughtered them almost at pleasure with their long 
pikes, and inflicted a tremendous loss, estimated at seven thousand 
men. All the elite of the French nobility and chivalry perished 
in this fatal disaster, which occurred on the 11th of July, 1302. 
Kobert, count of Artois, Pierre de Flotte (Chancellor of France), 
the Constable Raoul de Nesle, and Jacques de Chatillon, whose 
misgovernment had occasioned the revolt, were among the slain. 
So terrible had been the carnage among the knights and superior 
officers, that their gilt spurs were collected by bushels upon the 
field of battle. 

Philip, although at that time in the midst of his struggle with 
Boniface and the See of Rome, was by no means dismayed or dis- 
heartened by this great reverse. He exerted himself energetically 
to repair the calamity. The urgency of his need impelled him to 
various despotic measures ; he forced the nobles to send their plate 
to the mint, and paid them in debased coin ; he ordered that for 
every' hundred livres of income the possessor should furnish a 
horseman completely armed and equipped, and that every com- 
moner enjoying twenty-five livres annually should be called into 
active service in the army. A truce for a year had been made 
with the Flemings ; on its expiration in August, 1304, the king 
took the field in person at the head of 70,000 men, and marched 
to Tournay, while at the same time a fleet of Genoese galleys, 
which he had taken into pay, attacked the northern coast of Flan- 
ders. The Flemish were defeated in a naval fight off" Zericksee, 
and Philip himself obtained a more important and complete vic- 
tory at Mons-en-Puelle, near Lille, on the 18th of August, where 
the host of the insurgents, commanded by the two sons of the ex- 
iled Count Guy de Dampierre, was uttei'ly discomfited, with the 
loss of six thousand men. Such, however, was the energy and de- 
termination of the stout-hearted burghers of Flandei's, that within 
three weeks they were enabled to advance against the king with 
a fresh army of sixty thousand men ; and Philip, struck with ad- 
miration of their patriotism and dauntless bravery, resolved to 
abandon the contest and conclude a peace, A treaty was signed 
on the .5th of June, 1305, by which Philip engaged to respect and 



A.D. 1302. DISPUTES WITH BONIFACE VIII. 183 

preserve all the ancient franchises of Flanders, and recognized as 
count the eldest son of the late Guy de Danipierre, receiving at 
the same time the homage of the young prince for the fief. The 
Flemings, on their part, agreed to pay the King of France two 
hundred thousand livres for the expenses of the war, and placed 
him in possession of the towns of Lille, Douai, Achies, and Be- 
thune, with the whole district of French Flanders. It seems, how- 
ever, that they designed this cession to be not permanent, but tem- 
porary, as a guarantee for the due payment of the indemnity. 

Such was the result of the Flemish war — a memorable struggle, 
as proving for the first time that it was possible for a small feudal 
state, if well organized and animated by a fervent love of liberty, 
to resist successfully the will of a despotic suzerain, and to hum- 
ble the pride of a great militaiy kingdom. And it is important 
to remark that the generous spirit of independence thus displayed 
by the inhabitants of the Loav Countries has distinguished thcni 
throughout their history, and has never since been quelled ; every 
subsequent conflict (and they have been numerous) has terminal', d 
in the emphatic vindication of the same great principles. 

§ 16. For the sake of perspicuity, we have hitherto omitted all 
notice of the contest between Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface 
VIII., which is so prominent a feature of his reign, and forms, in- 
deed, one of the turning-points in modern history. Boniface was 
a man of haughty, overbearing, inflexible temper, and brought with 
him to the throne the most exti'avagant notions of the authority 
of the Roman See. He accordingly shaped his policy upon the 
model of Gregory VII. and Innocent III. ; but he encountered in 
Philip IV. an antagonist equally daring and determined with him- 
self, and one who understood far better the spirit and tendency of 
the times; Boniface maintained the contest with heroic courage, 
but it ended in his ruin. 

The king, to meet the growing necessities of his government, 
had instituted a tax called the maltvte ; it was levied originally on 
the merchants, but afterward extended to all classes, including the 
clergy, and amounted to a fiftieth part of their whole revenue. 
This was the opportunity seized by Boniface for commencing the 
strife. He issued, in August, 1296, his famous bull " Clericis lai- 
cos," by which the clergy were forbidden to furnish princes with 
subsidies or any kind of pecuniary contribution without the per- 
mission of the Holy See, and any layman of whatever rank, de- 
manding or accepting such payment, was ipso facto excommunica- 
ted. Philip replied, in terms no less peremptory, by a decree pro- 
hibiting his sulbjects of all classes to send out of the kingdom any 
gold or silver coined or uncoined, plate or jewels, arms, horses, or 
military stores, without the royal sanction. The effect of this was 



J 84 ' PHILIP IV. CiiAi'. IX. 

to deprive the Pope of the large annual income which he derived 
from the French clergy; he tlierefore hastened to put forth a sec- 
ond bull, styled " Ineffabilis," explaining and softening the first, 
which Avas not meant, he observed, to preclude the payment of feu- 
dal imposts, or voluntary donations, or tribute levied with the pa- 
pal consent. Boniface, however, still insisted that no temporal 
power can lawfully control the Church or her ministers, and that 
by attempting this Philip had incurred excommunication. The 
king rejoined, with conclusive force of reasoning, that the defense 
of the realm was both a duty and a right devolving on the sover- 
eign ; that all orders of his subjects were alike interested in the 
safety and prosperity of tlie state ; that taxes and subsidies, raised 
and assessed with the advice of Parliament, were the legitimate 
means for that purpose ; and that therefore the clergy, no less than 
any other class, were obviously bound to contribute to them. The 
Pope now made certain farther concessions, and an apparent rec- 
onciliation followed. But on the occasion of the Jubilee, in the 
year 1300, Boniface, whose heart swelled with pride on beholding 
thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the world prostrating them- 
selves in humble devotion at his feet, renewed his outrageous pre- 
tensions, and proceeded most unwisely to enforce them. Philip, 
ever jealous and encroaching, had demanded homage from the Vi- 
comte of Narbonne and the Bishop of Maguelonne, whose fiefs 
were held of the Church. The Pope forbade the prelates to obey, 
and sent as legate to the king, in order to arrange the affair, Ber- 
nard de Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, a tui'bvdent and insolent man, 
and particularly obnoxious to Philip, who suspected him of trea- 
sonable views against the royal authority in Languedoc. The 
bishop addressed the king in unmeasured and offensive language, 
l^hilip caused him to be suddenly arrested, examined before the 
Pai'liament at Senlis, and committed to the custody of his metro- 
politan, the Archbishop of Narbonne. The Pope's bull, " Auscul- 
ta, fili," which immediately followed the seizure of the legate, was 
couched in a style of arrogant menace, and summoned the bishops 
and superior clergy of France to meet him in council at Rome, 
and deliberate on measures for reforming the disorders of the state. 
This bull Philip caused to be publicly burnt at Paris in the pres- 
ence of the nobles of his court and a vast multitude of people ; 
and immediately afterward, on the lOtli of April, 1302, he con- 
voked for the first time the States-General, and consulted this 
great body as to the course to be pursued. The fiery Robert of 
Artois rose and declared that the nobility of France Avould never 
endure the insolent usurpations of the Pope ; the whole Parlia- 
ment bound themselves to uphold the honoi' of the crown and the 
liberties of the kingdom against all opponents; and a manifesto 



A.D. 1303, DISPUTES WITH BONIFACE VIII. 185 

containing stern remonstrances was drawn up vnider tlie direction 
of the tihancellor, and transmitted to Kome. 

§ 17. A few months afterward Boniface issued the celebrated 
bull "Unam Sanctam," in which the claims of the papacy were 
asserted with more audacity than ever, and carried to their farthest 
extreme. On the 13th of April, 1303, a formal sentence of ex- 
communication was published against Philip, upon which the king 
held a second council at the Louvre, when he produced an act of 
indictment against the Pope, charging him with a series of scan- 
dalous crimes, and demanded that he should be judged by a gen- 
eral council of the Church. Philip now seems to have formed the 
design of gaining forcible possession of the person of the Pope, in 
order, if not to commit farther violence, at least to impose on him 
such conditions as would make him comparatively harmless for the 
future. Both sides prepared for extremities. Boniface gave out 
that, on the 8th of September, a bull would be published at Anagni 
announcing the deposition of the King of France from the throne, 
and prohibiting his subjects from paying him any farther allegiance 
or obedience. William de Nogaret, a distinguished professor of 
civil law, and Sciarra Colonna, a younger son of the noble Roman 
family so named, whom the Pope had cruelly persecuted, now re- 
solved, apparently Avithout Philip's express orders, to execute his 
known wishes and purpose. They passed secretly and rapidly 
into Italy, entered Anagni at the head of a few hundred men, and, 
forcing the gates of the palace, burst rudely into the presence of 
the aged pontiff, who awaited them Avith intrepid dignity, seated 
on his throne, with the tiara on his head, and arrayed in the stole 
of St. Peter. Nogaret overwhelmed him with furious rej^roaches, 
and it is said that the brutal Colonna struck the old man on the 
face Avith his gauntlet, and was Avith difficulty withlield from dis- 
patching him on the spot. This Avas on the 7th of September, 
the day before the threatened promulgation of the sentence of de- 
position. T\A"0 days afterward the people of Anagni, recovering 
from their panic, rose indignantly in arms, drove the conspirators 
from the city Avith the loss of many of their number, and restoi-ed 
the Pope to liberty. Boniface hurried to Rome, breathing wrath 
and vengeance ; but the shock he had sustained from the outrage 
at Anagni, added to the natural violence of his passions, and the. 
infirmities of his great age, produced an attack of fever, Avhich re- 
sulted in delirium and frenzy; in this melancholy condition he ex- 
pired at the age of eighty-six, on the 11th of October, 1303. 

§ 18. Philip, although thus released from his most inveterate 
enemy, pursued his memory Avith unrelenting malice, and demand- 
ed of the new Pope, Benedict XI., his formal condemnation by a 
council for heresy and other crimes. Benedict replied by de- 



186 PHILIP IV. Chap. IX. 

nouncing sentence of excommunication upon Nogai'et and Co- 
lonna, together with all others who might in any way have en- 
couraged or aided them in the attempt upon the person of the late 
pontitt' — an expression in which he evidently intended to include 
the King of Fi'ance himself. This act of boldness proved fatal to 
Benedict ; he died suddenly a month afterward, with every ap- 
pearance of having been carried off by poison, and public rumor 
instantly inculpated the officers and agents of the King of France, 
acting, as was of course presumed, by his orders. Philip now in- 
trigued to procure the nomination of a Pope who should become 
his own dependent and devoted creature ; and such was the ad- 
dress of his partisans in the conclave, that at the end of nine 
months he found that the election rested absolutely in his hands. 
The person chosen by the king as the object of his patronage was 
Bertrand de Goth, archbishop of Bordeaux, a man in every way 
Avell fitted for the part he was to play. Philip held a secret in- 
terview with him, and offered to raise him to the papal throne on 
six conditions, Avhich were at once accepted. The archbishop en- 
gaged to revoke all ecclesiastical censures passed upon the king, 
his allies, minister's, and officers ; to grant him a tenth of the whole 
revenue of the Church throughout France for five years ; to pro- 
nounce a solemn condemnation on the memory of Pope Boniface ; 
to restore the Colonna family to all their honors ; and to bestow 
the cardinal's hat on several nominees of Philip. The sixth and 
last condition the king reserved to be hereafter specified in proper 
time and place, exacting an oath from Bertrand to fulfill it on the 
first demand. Having closed this disgraceful bargain, the arch- 
bishop was advanced to the chair of St. Peter on the 5th of June, 
1305, and took the name of Clement V. The new Pope, instead 
of proceeding to Pome, was crowned at Lyons, and fixed his resi- 
dence at Avignon, in which place six of his successors, all French- 
men like himself, continued to sojourn during seventy years. This 
period is compared by Italian writers to the Babylonish captivity 
of the rebellious Israelites. It Avas indeed plain that the popes 
had abdicated their freedom by forsaking the Eternal City for a 
strange land. So long as they remained in France they could 
never be more than the complaisant and servile instruments of 
the French monarch. 

Clement fulfilled punctually the compact by which he had gain- 
ed his elevation ; but the king prepared to extort from the en- 
slaved pontiff a still farther sacrifice, of equally portentous mag- 
nitude, and no less deeply affecting the interests and honor of the 
Holy See : this was the condemnation and suppression of the Or- 
der of the Knights Templars. 

§ 19. Since the abandonment of the Crusades, the Templars, 



A. D. 1303-1 30'J. PROSECUTION OF THE tEMPLARS. 137 

who for near two centuries had so nobly fought the battles of 
Christendom, had fallen under very general odium. Their enor- 
mous wealth, their overweening pride, their sordid covetousness, 
were proverbial, and it was commonly believed that both in faith 
and manners the Order had become fearfully degenerate and cor- 
rupt. Their great power and haughty independence sufficiently 
account for the deadly enmity borne to the Templars by Philip 
the Fair, even apart from the motive of grasping avarice to which 
it is usually attributed. They formed a body of fifteen thousand 
veteran warriors, exempt from the royal jurisdiction, and govern- 
ed by their own peculiar laws and officers. They were thus the 
most formidable class of the remaining feudal aristocracy, and 
Philip had frequently encountered their bold resistance to his ty- 
rannical exactions and encroachments. He resolved on their de- 
struction ; and it is thought probable, though it can never be cer- 
tainly known, that the sixth article of the treaty with Clement — 
that reserved by Philip to be claimed hereafter at his pleasure — 
had reference to this dark design. 

The Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques du Molay, had been 
invited into France by Pope Clement, acting doubtless in concert 
with the king, under pretense of taking measures for a new cru- 
sade. He came without suspicion, attended by other chief officers 
of the Order, and bringing with him an immense treasure of gold 
and silver. Philip received him honoi'ably, and distinguished him 
by marks of special favor; but sviddenly, on the 13th of October, 
1307, not only du Molay, but all the Knights Templars through- 
out the realm of France, were arrested and thrown into prison ; 
and Philip proceeded in person to the vast fortress of the Temple 
at Paris, of which he took forcible possession. Certain secret rev- 
elations had been made to the king by two renegade members of 
the Order, who had been condemned for gross misconduct and 
imprisoned for life ; and the Templars wei'e charged upon their 
testimony Avitli the most monstrous crimes, including systematic 
blasphemy and impiety, shameless immorality, and deliberate apos- 
tasy from the Christian faith. One hundred and forty of the 
prisoners were immediately examined before the Grand Inquisitor 
at Paris ; and the severest tortures having been employed to ex- 
tract confession, admissions were obtained which seemed to a great 
extent to establish their guilt. The same measures were folloAved 
throughout the provinces, with the same result ; in some cases the 
charges were positively denied, in others partially and indistinctly 
confessed ; but the agony of the torture prostrated even the bravest 
spirits, and the great majority of the wretched victims avowed all 
that their relentless enemies desired. Having thus collected a 
vast mass of evidence which could hardly be disci-edited, Philip, 



188 PHILIP IV. Chap. IX. 

in May, 1308, held a meeting of the States-General at Tours, and 
laid the Avhole affair before them. The decision of the obsequious 
assembly Avas soon taken : they pronounced the Templars to be 
guilty, and worthy of death. With the Pope Philip had more 
ditficulty. Notwithstanding his state of abject bondage to the 
king, Clement could not tamely permit the destruction of an Or- 
der specially protected and honored by the Holy See, and the in- 
sulting invasion by the civil power of rights which belonged solely 
to his own jurisdiction. Pie indignantly proclaimed that the af- 
fair of the Templars could be judged only by himself; he suspend- 
ed from their functions the inquisitors, prelates, and other digni- 
taries who had presumed to meddle with it without his sanction, 
and sent two legates to the king to demand that the persons and 
property of the accused should be immediately surrendered into 
his hands. But Philip was not to be thus balked of his prey. At 
a conference Avhich he held with the Pope at Poitiers, Clement 
consented to sacrifice the Templars. It was now announced that 
the Pope had reluctantly become convinced of their criminality ; 
that the entire case was reserved for the hearing and decision of 
the General Council summoned for October, 1310 ; and that mean- 
while a papal commission would be opened at Paris, by which all 
the prisoners Avould be re-examined, and an impartial report drawn 
up to be laid before the council. 

The commission met accordingly in August, 1309. No less than 
five hundred and forty-six Templars appeared before it from dif- 
ferent parts of the kingdom, all of whom agreed in declaring that 
the accusations against them were utterly false and calumnious ; 
that the faith of the Order was, and had always been, immaculate ; 
that its original rule had been faithfully and strictly observed ; that 
all testimonies to the contrary were base and infamous perjuries. 
Philip began to be alarmed for the result, and proceeded to take 
summary measures to secure his ends. He caused the Archbish- 
op of Sens, one of hie creatures, to assemble a provincial council, 
which hastily condemned fifty-four of the Templars to be burnt at 
the stake as relapsed heretics, they having retracted their former 
confessions obtained under the torture. The sentence was carried 
into effect on the 10th ofTVIay, 1310, in the Faubourg St. Antoine 
at Paris. The unhappy sufferers died with the utmost constancy, 
and protested with their last breath their entire innocence. 

§ 20. The Council of Vienne at length opened on the 16th of 
October, 1311. On the 22d of March, 1312, Clement pronounced a 
decree annulling and abolishing the Order of theTemplars through- 
out Europe, in the presence of the King of France, his brother 
Charles of Valois, and his three sons. The immense landed es- 
tates of the Order, with all its privileges, Avere bestowed by the 



A.D. 13U-13iG. PROSECUTION OF THE TEMPLARS. 189 

same decree upon the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusa- 
lem. Two thirds of their movable property was claimed by the 
French crown by way of compensation for the expenses of this 
iniquitous prosecution. 

The Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, and his three brethren 
the preceptors of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Poitou, remained still 
to be disposed of. They were kept two years longer in confine- 
ment at Paris, and on the 11th of March, 1314, were brought forth 
before a commission named by the Pope to hear their final sen- 
tence, which condemned them to perpetual imprisonment. The 
presiding cardinal had no sooner ceased than the Grand Master 
and the Preceptor of Normandy suddenly stood up, and in ener- 
getic language totally recanted the confessions formerly extorted 
from them, and called Heaven to witness that they were wholly 
guiltless. The commissioners, struck with astonishment, adjourn- 
ed till the next day ; but Philip, upon being informed of what had 
passed, took counsel with some of his most trusty confidants, and 
caused the two prisoners to be conveyed the same night to a small 
island of the Seine, close to his palace, where they were burnt to 
death. They persisted to the last in asserting their innocence, 
and suffered with a constancy which moved the admiration of all 
beholders. The incident mentioned by one historian,* that Jacques 
de Molay, while expiring in the flames, summoned both the Pope 
and the king to appear and answer before the tribunal of God, the 
one in forty days, the other within the space of a year, is of doubt- 
ful credit, and was probably suggested by the event. Both Clem- 
ent and Philip died in point of fact within the period thus assign^ 
ed to each — the former on the 20th of April, the latter on the 29th 
of November, 1314. 

Despotic power has seldom been exercised with more general suc- 
cess than by Philip the Fair. He accomplished all his schemes 
and objects. He humbled the Church in the persons of Boniface 
and Clement, and the feudal nobility by the extinction of the Tem- 
plars ; he established the legistes, or civilians, as the devoted instru- 
ments of his will in all the courts of his kingdom ; he restored the 
supremacy of the ancient Koman imperial law. Yet his acknowl- 
edged talents were so obscured and perverted by his great vices of ra- 
pacity, vindictiveness, and cruelty, that the permanent results of his 
reign were neither honorable to himself nor beneficial to the nation. 

§ 21. Louis X. (le Hutin), 1314-1316.— Philip IV. left three 
sons, who were all successively kings of France. The eldest of 
them, Louis X., surnamed le Hutin, now mounted the throne. His 
brief reign of two years is marked by a violent reaction against the 
odious despotism of his father. The nobles, the clergy, the com- 
* Ferretti of Vicenza. 



190 LOUIS X. Chap. IX. 

monalty, all protested with equal vigor against the encroachments 
of the crown ; and the young king, finding himself obliged to yield, 
sacrificed as victims of the movement the chief ministers and civil 
functionaries of the late reign. The nobles proceeded to claim the 
restoration of their suppressed privileges ; and the feudal rights of 
private war, of coining" money, and of the judicial duel, were thus 
recovered. Many of the great civil offices created by Philip, as 
well as most of his burdensome imposts, were abolished ; the appeal 
to the Parliament of Paris as the supreme court, and even that to 
the royal judges, was withdrawn. At the same time, Louis issued 
an ordonnance enfranchising the serfs throughout the royal do- 
mains : a measure adopted apparently not from views of liberal 
policy, but for the sake of raising money. The serfs, not compre- 
hending the value of the proffered boon, were compelled to purchase 
their freedom for various sums, and the practice was imitated on 
the estates of the nobility. But, whatever may have been the mo- 
tive of this celebrated edict, it marks the commencement of a great 
change in the social state, and was soon followed by important con- 
sequences. Had the opportunity been fully understood and skill- 
fully turned to account, the result might have been the establish- 
ment in France of a free constitution like that of England. But, 
unfortunately, the movement was merely taken advantage of by one 
class to exalt itself against another, and the nation, thus internally 
divided, never attained that earnest unity of sentiment and purpose 
which alone could insure its success in a struggle with despotic roy- 
alty. 

Louis X. was twice married. His first wife. Marguerite, sister 
of the Duke of Burgundy, was convicted in 1314 of the crime of 
adultery, and imprisoned in the Chateau Gaillard, where she was 
strangled. Shortly afterward, in August, 1315, Louis espoused the 
Princess Clemence, a niece of Robert II., king of Naples, and sister 
of the King of Hungary. Before a year had passed the king ex- 
pired at Vincennes, of a disorder occasioned by drinking Avine im- 
moderately when overheated by a game at ball. His death occur- 
red on the 5th of June, 1316, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. 

§ 22. Louis X. left by his first wife a daughter named Jeanne, 
and his second queen was far advanced in pregnancy. Philip, the 
brother of the late king, was appointed regent. A grave question 
now arose concerning the succession. In the event of a failure of 
direct heirs male, could the crown of France be inherited by a fe- 
male ? The Capetians had hitherto transmitted it from father to 
son, without interruption, through ten generations ; and the law 
had made no provision for circumstances which had never yet oc- 
curred. About four months later — on the 15th of November, 
131G — the queen was delivered of a son, who received the name 



A.D. 1316-1322. THE SALIC LAW.— THE PASTOUKEAUX. jgi 

of John ; but the infont survived only six days, and is not usually 
reckoned among the sovereigns of France. Upon this, the regent 
caused himself to be solemnly crowned King of France, at Reims, 
on the 9th of January, 1317. The Duke of Burgundy attempted 
to cLiim the kingdom for his niece, the Princess Jeanne; but the 
new king immediately assembled the States-General, and a formal 
decree was published by that body, declaring that females are in- 
capable of inheriting the crown of France. This was decisive, 
and the opposition at once fell to the ground. In order to give 
color to the usurpation (for it was nothing better), the lawyers 
cited an obscure article* from the code of the barbarous Salians, 
which, as they pretended, had always been the acknowledged law 
of the Frank monarchy. However slight and doubtful its foun- 
dation, this adroit justification met with general acceptance; and 
ever since that time, the Salic Law, as it is called, has been re- 
garded as an essential constitutional principle in France. The 
advantages of such an enactment are great and obvious. It se- 
cured the consolidation of the royal authority in the hands of a 
line of native princes; it tended to exclude foreign influence from 
the highest functions and affairs of state ; and, by making it im- 
possible that the crown of France should ever be acquired by mar- 
riage, it cut off a dangerous temptation, which, in other coun||[ies, 
has produced destructive consequences. 

§ 23. Philip V. (le Long), 1316-1322.— The reign of Philip 
v., surnamed the Long, is barren of important events. He Avas a 
prince of mild and generous disposition, and many useful measui'es 
of legislation are due to him, especially one by which he declared 
the royal domain inalienable. The appanages granted to the 
princes of the blood thus became resumable by the crown on de- 
fault of male heirs. 

But the condition of the great mass of the people was at this 
time most deplorable. Under the influence of Pope John XXII., 
a man of narrow and weak mind, the king was induced to lend 
himself to several cruel and bldody persecutions. The Franciscan 
mendicants, who, under the title of Spirituals, had vigorously at- 
tacked the corruptions of the papacy, were denounced as heretics, 
and pursued with extreme severity. Great numbers of them 
were burnt at the stake in Languedoc and Provence in 1318 and 
1319. The renewal of the project of a crusade in 1320 produced 
a second insurrection of the Pastoureaux,t who, under the pre- 
tense of arming for the defense of the Holy Land, roamed tumult- 
uously through the country, committing the most frightful depre- 

'^ It provided that Salic land (i. e., the allodial property of the tribe) should 
not descend to females. On the Salian Code, see Guizot, "Hist, of Civiliza- 
teon," vol. i., lecture ix. t See p. 170. 



192 CHARLES IV. Chap. IX. 

datioiis and excesses. A multitude of helpless Jews were murder- 
ed by these wretched fanatics in the southern provinces ; and they 
became at last so formidable that the Pope declared them excom- 
municate, and appealed to the civil power to suppress them by 
force. A vast body of them was overtaken and surrounded by 
the Seneschal of Carcassonne in the marshy plains near Aigues 
Mortes ; here they were massacred by hundreds and thousands, 
and, the fugitives who escaped the sword liaving dispersed in tei-- 
ror, the insurrection was speedily at an end. 

The following year was marked by a savage outburst of indig- 
nation against a still more unhappy class — the Lepers, who were 
popularly accused of having poisoned all the wells and fountains 
in Poitou and Guienne. The grounds of this horrible charge are 
not distinctly known ; the Lepers were reported to be under the 
influence of sorcery and magic, the belief in which was then uni- 
versal ; another account represented them as hii-ed agents of the 
Moorish King of Granada ; a third, as accomplices of the Jews. 
The Lepers were arrested in all parts of France, and barbarously 
tortured ; every petty official in the kingdom was authorized to 
deal with them at his sole discretion ; and great multitudes, thus 
condemned in defiance of all forms of justice, perished in the flames. 

"l^e popular fury was now once more directed against the un- 
fortunate Jews, who never failed to suffer in every fresh outbreak 
of persecution. They were hurried indiscriminately to the stake, 
without the semblance of any judicial procedure ; at Chinon, in 
Touraine, an enormous pit was dug near the castle, a fire lighted 
at the bottom, and 160 wretched victims of both sexes hurled, 
pell-mell, into the flames. The richer class were kept in prison 
until an account had been obtained of their property, and of the 
amount of their claims acquired by lending money ; these the king 
^ transferred to his own credit ; and a sum of 150,000 livres is said 
r to have been thus added to the royal treasury. 

Philip expired, after a languishing illness of five months, at 
Longchamps, near Paris, on the 3d of January, 1322. He had 
scarcely attained the thirtieth year of his age. 

§ 24. Charles IV. (le Bel), 1322-1328.— Philip the Long left 
no male issue; "Shd his daughter being excluded from the throne 
by virtue of the Salic Law, which he himself had called into ac- 
tion, the third and youngest son of Philip the Fair was unani- 
mously recognized as king, under the name of Charles IV., sur~ 
named le Bel, or the Fair. His reign is even more obscurely 
known to us than that of his predecessor, from the extreme pauci- 
ty of contemporary chronicles. He took advantage of the strug- 
gle between Edward II. and his indignant subjects to make ag- 
gressions on the English territories in Guienne, and upon a slight 



A.D. 1325-1328. EARLY FRENCH HISTORIANS. 193 

pretext an army was sent to invade that province. The Frencli 
troops forced the Earl of Kent, brother of the King of England, to 
sign a capitulation at La Reole. Queen Isabella, sister of Chax'les 
le Bel, was now dispatched by her husband to Paris (May, 1325) 
to negotiate for peace ; but she no sooner found herself upon the 
Continent than she began to weave a conspiracy, in conjunction 
with her paramour Roger Mortimer, for the deposition and ruin 
of Edward, and in this disgraceful project she was encouraged by 
her brother, who secretly supplied her both with men and money. 
She embarked for England in September, 1326, and, being quickly 
joined by a considerable body of partisans, accomplished within 
the next two months the revolution Avhich ended in the capture, 
dethronement, and cruel murder of her unfortunate husband. 
Upon the succession of Edward III. a definitive treaty Avas made 
between France and England, by which the duchy of Guienne was 
restored to Edward upon payment of an indemnity of 50,000 
marks sterling. 

Charles IV. died at Vincennes on the 31st of January, 1328, at 
the age of thirty-four, and, although he had been three times mar- 
vied, left no male heir to succeed him. This rapid extinction of a 
line which, for upward of three centuries, had given sovereigns to 
France in unbroken descent, was popularly regarded as a Divine 
retribution upon the crimes of Philip the Fair. 

Like his brother Louis Hutin, Charles IV. left his queen, Jeanne 
d'Evreux, enceinte. He gave directions, on his death-bed, that if 
the expected issue should prove a prince, he should at once be pro- 
claimed king ; if a princess should be born, then the Council of 
Peers was to assemble, and adjudge the crown to him whom, in 
their wisdom, they should pronounce the legitimate heir. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
EARLY FRENCH HISTORIANS. 



The historical literature of France, as dis- 
tingiiislied from the dryness and barrenness 
of mere chroniclers, may be said to com- 
mence with Geoff roi de Ville-Hardouiii, Jlar- 
slial of Champagne, wlio took part in the 
fourth crusade, and composed an interesting 
History of the Conquest of Constantinople. 
This -work, is the first in that lengthened se- 
ries of historical inemoirs for which France 
is so specially celebrated. Ville-Hardouin is 
an unpretending, but faithful and graphic 
narrator of events which passed under his 
own eyes. His desciiptions of contemporary 
manners, both among his own countrymen 
and in tlie East, are particularly valuable. 
The Hire de Joinvillf., Seneschal of Cham- 
pagne CA.D. 1'223-131T), was the confidential 



I 



friend of St. Louis, whom he accompanied to 
Egypt on his iirst crusade in 124S. In his 
MevLoirca he has left an admirable biography 
of that monarch, characterized by great orig- 
inality and vivacity of style, shrewdness of 
observation, and variety of detail. M. Ville- 
main classes tliis work as "le premier mouve- 
ment de genie en langue Franraise." 

Joinville was followed at the distance of 
some years by Jean Froissart (a.d. 1333- 
1400), a native of Valenciennes, and by pro- 
fession an ecclesiastic. His Chrojiiqiws treat 
(according to their title) of the Merveil- 
leuses Emprises, Nobles Avenlxires, et Fails 
d'' Amies advenvs en son temps en. France, 
Angleterrc, Bretaigne, Eourqogne, Fscosse, 
Espaigne, et is arUres parties. They fo'in 
one of the most important and authentic 
ources of the history of tliat day, but, at tho 



194 



NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



Chap. IX. 



same time, are by no means free from mis- 
takes and inaccuracies. The best edition of 
Froissart h- that of M. J. A. Berchon, Paris, 
1840. 

Philippe de Comi7ies, Seigneur d'Argenton, 
was born in the year 1445, of a noble family 
in Flanders. His early life was passed at the 
court of Burgundy under Charles le Teme- 
raire, but in 1472 he transferred his services 
to Louis XI. of France. That prince loaded 
him with favors, employed him on missions 
of the highest importance, and made him 
Seneschal of Poitou. In the following reign 
De Comines joined the party of the Duke of 
Orleans in opposition to Anne of Beaujeu, 
and was in consequence tried and condemn- 
ed to exile by the Parliament ; the sentence, 
however, was not executed. He accompa- 
nied Charles VIII. to Italy, and was one of 
his most useful advisers. During the reign 
of Louis XII. he lived in retirement at Ar- 



genton, and died there in the year 1509. The 
Memoires of De Comines embrace almost the 
entire reigns of Louis XI. and Charles VIII., 
A.D. 1464^1498. In his account of this period 
he displays a remarkable acquaintance with 
mankind, and gi'eat sagacity and soundness 
of judgment on political affairs. His work 
has always been held in the highest estima- 
tion. 

The Life of Charles V. by Christine de 
Pisan^ the Chroniqiies of Enguen-and de 
Monstrelet, and the Histori/ of Charles VI. by 
Juvenal des Ursins., afford useful materials 
of contemporary history, but in point of liter- 
ary merit are far inferior to the authors above 
mentioned. 

One of the best •modern works of reference 
for the period commencing with the reigu of 
Charles V. is the Histoire des Dues de Bour- 
gogne de la Maison de Fatois, by M. de Ba~ 
rante, 7 vols, 8vo, Paris, 1842. 



Chap. X. 



HOUSES OF VALOIS AND BURGUNDY. 



195 



Gknealogical Table of the House of Valois of France. 

Charles, count ofValois, younger son of King Philip III. 

PniLip VI., king, 132S-1350. 

John (le Bon), king, 1350-1364. 



Charles v. (le Sage), Louis, duke of Anjoii, John, duke Philip, duke of Burgundy, 
king, 1364-13S0. founder of the 2d royal of Berry. ob. 1404 

1 house of Naples. (see below). 



Cdables VI. (le Bien-aimo), king, 13S0-1422 
= Isabella of Bavaria. 



Louis, duke of Orleans, 

assassinated 1407, 

founder of the line of Valois-Orleans. 



Louis, 
ob. 1415. 



John, ClIAELES VII. 

ob. 141G. (le Victorieux), 
king, 1422-1461. 



Isabella 
: 1. Richard II. of England. 
2. Duke of Orleans. 



Catharine 
= Henry V. 
of England. 



Louis XL, king, 1461-14S3. Charles, duke of BeiTy. Four daughters. 



CuAKLEs VIII. , king, 
14S3-149S. 



Anne^: 
Sire de Beaujeu. 



Jeanne = 

Duke of Orleans, 

afterward Louis XII. 



Genealogical Table of the second Ducal House of Burgundy. 

Jdlm, king of France, inherits the duchy as nearest heir male of the late Duke Philippe de 
Rouvre, li361. 

I 
Philip, fourth son of King John, created Duke of Burgundy, 1304. 

Jean sans Peur, killed at Montereau, 1419. 

I 
Philip (le Bon), ob. 146T. 

I 
Charles (le Temeraire), ob. 14TT. 

I 
Mary, duchess of Burgundy = Maximilian, archduke of Austria. 
I 
Philip, archduke of Austria, = Juana, heiress of Castile and Aragon. 
and sovereign of the Netherlands, I 
ob. 1500. 

Charles V., king of Spain, sovereign of the Netherlands, and emperor, 1519. 




Airest of Chailes thd Kul, King of ^avaue, by King Johii,m the chateau of Kouen, 

BOOK IV. 
FALL OF FEUDALISM. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF PHIUP VI. TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES VIII. 
A.D. 1328-1498. 



CHAPTER X. 



FIRST PERIOD OP THE WARS WITH ENGLAND. PHILIP VI., JOHN, 

AND CHARLES V. A.D. 1328-1380. 

§ 1. Accession (f the House of Valois ; Philip VI. § 2. Expedition of 
Philip to Flanders; Battle of Cassel. § 3. Homage of Edward HI. to 
Philip at Amiens; Robert of Artois; he is condemned and banished, and 
flies to England. § 4. War breaks out with England; Edward invades 



A.D. 1328-1350. ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 197 

France, but without result. § 5. The French defeated in a naA^al Action 
off Helvoetsluys ; Truce between France and England. § G. Disputed 
Succession in Brittan3^ § 7. Edward lands in Normand)^ ; Battle of Crc- 
cy. § 8. Siege of Calais ; Truce with England ; Death of Philip VI. § 9. 
Accession of King John. § 10. Charles the Bad, King of Navarre ; As- 
. sassination of the Constable de la Cerda ; Arrest and Imprisonment of 
Charles of Navarre. § 11. War breaks out in Aquitaine; Battle of Poi- 
tiers; Captivity of John. § 12. The Dauphin Charles assumes the Re- 
gency ; Insurrection at Paris under Etienne Marcel and Lecoq ; Meeting 
of the States-General. § 13. The Jacquerie; Suppression of the Insur- 
rection in Paris. § 14. Edward invades France; Peace of Bretigny; 
John released from Captivity. § 15. Foundation of the second Ducal 
House of Burgundy ; John returns as a Prisoner to England ; his Death. 
§ 16. Accession of Charles V. ; War with Pedro the Cruel of Castile. 
§ 17. Renewal of the War with England. § 18. Successes of the French. 
§ 19. Successes against Chai-les of Navarre. § 20. War in Brittany and 
Languedoc ; Death of Du Guesclin and Charles V. 

§ 1. The late king's nearest relatives were his nephew, Edward 
III. of England, son of his sister the Princess Isabella ; his niece, 
the Princess Jeanne, daughter of King Louis X., and married to 
the Count of Evreux, by whom she had a son ; and his first cous- 
in, Philip, count of Valois, grandson of King Philip III. The cir- 
cumstances which now ensued are differently related by historians ; 
but it would appear that, immediately on receiving the news of 
Charles's death, the King of England asserted his claim, not to the 
crown, but to the regency ; and that the peers of France were thus 
compelled to meet and decide to whom the government of the 
realm should be intrusted during the interval before the queen's 
accouchement. And the grounds upon which they settled the re- 
gency were those Avhich, it was sufficiently clear, would also determ- 
ine the succession to the throne, supposing that question to arise. 

It was argued that since, by the fundamental laws of France, 
Queen Isabella was excluded from inheriting the crown in her own 
person, she could not transmit to another a right which she did not 
herself possess. And further, that, even supposing the principle 
of representation (as it was called) to be admitted, there was an- 
other person (the son of the Countess of Evreux) whose claim, 
through his mother, was manifestly prior .to that of Edward. In 
consequence, it was unanimously declared by the court that the 
regency of the kingdom belonged of just right to Philip, count of 
Valois. 

Philip VI., 1328-1350.— On the 1st of April, 1328, two months 
after the death of her husband, the queen Avas delivered of a prin- 
cess. Upon this, the peers and barons treated the question of the 
succession as one already decided ; refusing to reopen the discus- 



198 PHILIP VI. Chap. X. 

sion, they acted promptly on their foregone conclusion, and caused 
Philip to be proclaimed at Paris, and throughout the kingdom, as 
sovereign of France and Navarre. It was thus that the royal 
dignity passed from the direct descendants of Hugh Capet, who 
had transmitted it from father to son through a period of 3-10 
years, to the collateral line of the house of Valois. 

The new king lost no time in proceeding to the ceremony of his 
coronation, which was solemnized at Reims on the 29th of May, 
with unusual magnificence. 

Philip VI., at the time of his accession, was in the thirty-sixth 
year of his age. He was possessed of considerable tact and talent, 
and was not devoid of good qualities; was brave, generous, and 
affable ; but his ruling passion was the love of display and pomp. 
He formed a gorgeous and luxurious court, at which figured, as 
habitual residents, the Kings of Bohemia,* Navarre,f and Major- 
ca, each with his brilliant retinue, preferring the sumptuous hos- 
pitality of Philip to the dullness of their own remote dominions. 
They were entertained with a perpetual succession of fetes, tour- 
naments, hunting parties, banquets, balls, and pageantry of all 
kinds. All this was well calculated to conciliate and attach the 
great nobles, who had been much estranged from the court dui'ing 
the last few reigns. They had now found a king after their own 
heart ; and, amid the fascination of pleasure, they became careless 
of their liberties, and unconscious of the rapid advance made by 
the crown toward arbitrary and absolute power. 

§ 2. Among the brilliant personages who thronged to Philip's 
coronation was Louis, count of Flanders. He came not merely to 
pay his homage to the sovereign, but also to invoke his assistance 
against his own revolted subjects, the citizens of Cassel, Bruges, 
Ypres, and other Flemish towns. This request — one strictly in 
conformity with the feudal system — was willingly listened to by 
Philip, who longed for an opportunity of signalizing his name and 
strengthening his throne by the renown of military achievement. 
He gave immediate orders for assembling a large army, Avhich was 
appointed to meet at Arras. The rebel burghers had intrenched 
themselves upon the hill of Cassel — an eminence remarkable for 
the immense panoramic view which it commands, and offering a 
strong defensive position. In front of their camp they set up con- 

* The chivah'ous and eccentric John of Luxemburg, father of the Emperor 
Charles IV. 

t Philip entered into a treaty with the Count and Countess of Evreux, by 
which he established them on the throne of Navarre, receiving in return a 
formal renunciation of their jjretensions to the French crown, and tlie restora- 
tion of the counties of Champagne and Brie. We shall see that this was un- 
scrupulously violated hy their son, Charles le Mauvais. 



A.D. 1328, 1329. ROBERT OF ARTOIS. I99 

spicuously a banner bearing the device of a cock, and inscribed 
with the derisive legend, 

" Quand ce coq ici chantera 
Le roi trouve ci entrera." 

This expression "le roi trouve" was meant as a jest upon the king's 
questionable title. 

Undismayed by the imposing array of the French host, the 
Flemings, descending from their strong-hold, made a daring at- 
tempt to surprise Philip in his quarters at the hour of supper. 
Their first onset threw the camp into some disorder; but the king, 
soon rallying round him his brave knights, fell upon them before 
they could recover from their own impetuosity, surrounded them, 
and, after an obstinate struggle, finally routed them with terrible 
slaughter, August 23d, 1328. It is said that no less than 13,000 
of the insurgents Avere left dead on the field of battle, including 
their leader, Colin Lannekin. The victory was complete and its 
results decisive. The town of Cassel was immediately stormed, 
taken, and pillaged ; Bruges and Ypres submitted unconditional- 
ly ; the whole of Flanders lay at the feet of the victor. Philip re- 
established the authority of the count throughout his dominions ; 
and having addressed to him some words of wise and grave coun- 
sel as to his future administration, he returned in triumph to Paris. 

§ 3. Flushed by the success of this expedition, the King of 
France now felt himself strong enough to venture upon the bold 
measure of summoning Edward of England to appear at his court 
and do feudal homage for his duchy of Guienne. Edward thought 
it more prudent to comply with this demand, and did homage to 
Philip at Amiens in 1329. But, at the same time, he made a 
secret reservation, in concert with his Council of State, not to 
abandon his rights, but to vindicate them on the first favorable 
opportunity. He seems to have been content to let his claim lie 
dormant for the next six years; and during this interval Philip 
had the misfortune to raise up against himself a formidable enemy 
in his own family, who became the main cause of his subsequent 
reverses. 

llobert of Artois, count de Beaumont-Roger, was a prince of the 
blood-royal of France, being the great-grandson of that Count of 
Artois, brother of Saint Louis, who perished at the battle of Man- 
sourah, and grandson of the count who fell at Courtrai in 1302. 
He was nearly connected with Philip of Valois, having mai'ried 
his half-sister Jeanne, the daughter of Charles of Valois by Catha- 
rine de Courtenay, titular Empress of Constantinople. The two 
princes were on terms of intimate friendship ; and the Count of 
Artois was the person of all others in France, says Froissart, to 
whom Philip was indebted for his elevation to the throne. It was 



200 PHILIP VI. CiiAp. X. 

he who in the Court of Peers had urged with such convincing 
cogency the necessity of continuing the succession in the male line, 
and the futility of the claims of Edward, as representing a female 
only. No doubt, in these exertions for the election of his brother- 
in-law, the count had' personal as well as public interests in view. 
By two adverse decisions of the courts of law in previous reigns 
he had been dispossessed of his paternal inheritance ; and the 
county of Artois was enjoyed at this time by his father's sister, 
Matilda, countess of Burgundy. Upon the accession of Philip the 
Count of Artois became one of the most influential and powerful 
persons in the kingdom, and he determined to make a third at- 
tempt to recover the possessions of his ancestors. It was not 
likely, however, that the Court of Peers would be induced to re- 
verse its former judgments, except upon the strength of fresh and 
conclusive evidence ; and the count accordingly gave out that cer- 
tain missing documents had lately come to light which would es- 
tablish his claim beyond dispute. The inquiry commenced in 
June, 1329, and the Countess of Burgundy hastened to St. Ger- 
mains, where the court sat, to defend her interests. Pending the 
proceedings she was seized Avith a sudden and mysterious malady, 
and died in the month of October the same year. Suspicion was 
aroused, and Robert of Artois was freely accused of having pro- 
cured the removal of his aunt by poison. Her eldest daughter 
Jeanne, who succeeded to her mother's rights, fell a victim to the 
same strange fate within three months afterward, January 21, 
1330. Meanwhile the trial proceeded, and Robert's principal 
witness, a young lady of Bethune, named Jeanne de Divion, at 
length produced a packet of papers, which had hitherto been se- 
creted, she said, by the late Bishop of Arras, the friend and min- 
ister of the last Count of Artois, and placed in her hands by the 
deceased prelate on his death-bed.* Among these papers was a 
deed by which the county of Artois was formally bequeathed to 
Philip, son of Robert II., and father of the present claimant, who 
would of course have succeeded as the natural heir. The evidence, 
however, upon this critical point being severely sifted, the wit- 
nesses began to hesitate, grew confused, prevaricated, contradicted 
each other, and the Demoiselle de Divion, struck with remorse, at 
length confessed that she had been guilty of a wholesale forgery ; 
denouncing at the same time Jeanne of Valois, Robert's wife, as 
her accomplice in the fraud. . The storm of popular resentment 
against the conspirators now rose to its height, and was not to 
be resisted. Jeanne de Divion was at once condemned, and paid 
the forfeit of her crime by being burnt at the stake, together witli 
others of the perjured witnesses. Robert of Artois, burning with 
* The "Demoiselle de Divion" appears to have been the bishop"s mistress. 



A.D. 1332-1337. KOBERT OF AKTOIS. 201 

rage, shame, and terror (for it seems his life was in danger), es- 
caped secretly from France, and took refuge at the court of the 
Duke of Brabant. Philip's peers arraigned him in his absence, 
convicted him, and pronounced against him a sentence of confisca- 
tion and perpetual banishment from France, May 19, 1332. The 
countess his wife, and his two children, were arrested and im- 
prisoned. 

How far Kobert of Artois was himself the original author of 
this base imposture, or how far he was the victim of the arts and 
passions of others, it is now impossible to ascertain. But, what- 
ever may have been the amount of his guilt, he appears to have 
abandoned himself henceforth to all the deadly animosity and un- 
scrupulous vengeance of a ruined man. During his sojourn at 
Brussels he is said to have practiced upon the life of Philip of 
Valois by the arts of sorcery and magic. The king, either really 
alarmed or feigning apprehension, remonstrated with the duke in 
a tone so menacing that he found himself obliged to expel the un- 
fortunate count from his dominions. He fled to Namur, and was 
followed thither by the same relentless persecution. Then it was 
that he took a resolution which was to prove the turning-point of 
such mighty destinies ; vowing deep revenge upon his oppressor, 
he threw himself into the arms of Philip's jealous and watchful 
rival, Edward of England. Crossing the Channel in disguise, to- 
ward the close of the year 1333, Kobert proceeded to the court of 
the English king, where he found himself at once received with 
distinguished favor. Henceforth he was to plot the ruin of his 
brother-in-law by spells more potent than those of witchcraft. 

§ 4. Early in the year 1336 the King of France published a 
proclamation at Paris, in which Robert of Artois was stigmatized 
as an enemy of the state, and guilty of high treason ; the king for- 
bade all his vassals, of whatever rank, whether within or beyond 
the French territory, to harbor or assist him on pain of confisca- 
tion of their fiefs. Philip was, no doubt, perfectly well aware of 
the restless intrigues of the exiled prince at Edward's court, and 
of the extraordinary influence and ascendency that he enjoyed 
there. This manifesto, tlien, was an insulting defiance to the King 
of England, and virtually a declaration of war. It was so accept- 
ed by Edward, who began to make preparations with the utmost 
diligence by sea and land. His cause was greatly strengthened by 
the adhesion of the Flemish, under the leadership of James van 
Artevelde, the celebrated brewer of Ghent. By the advice of this 
powerful demagogue, Edward proceeded, in the course of the year 
1337, to make a formal assumption of the title of King of France ; 
upon which the Flemings acknowledged him as their feudal lord, 
took the oath of allegiance, and ranged themselves under his ban- 

12 



202 PHILIP VI. Chap. X. 

ners. In the following year (1339) Edward crossed over to Flan- 
ders and invaded France, advancing from Valenciennes toward 
Cambrai. The French king, concentrating his army at St. Quen- 
tin, marched promptly to confront the invaders, and came up with 
their main body near the town of La Capelle. Both sides expect- 
ed instant battle ; but Philip is said to have been discouraged at 
the critical moment by an astrological prediction of Robert, king 
of Naples, who warned him never to attack the English when 
commanded by their king in person. Philip was strongly tinc- 
tured with the superstition of the day, and it appears that he suf- 
fered this vague presage to decide his counsels. It was resolved 
to avoid an action. The ai-mies separated ; Edward retired by 
Avesnes, and recrossed the frontier into Hainault. 

§ 5. The result of this first campaign was unfavorable to Ed- 
ward. He was, however, by no means disheartened ; he returned 
to England at the opening of the new year (1340), and, assembling 
his Parliament, obtained a considei'able supply of troops and mon- 
ey, of which he stood urgently in need, and again sailed for Flan- 
ders with a pow^erful fleet on the 2 2d of June. Meanwhile Philip 
had procured from the obsequious Pope a bull by which the whole 
of Flanders was placed under an interdict for having entered into 
alliance with the Church's enemies, Edward of England and the 
excommunicated emperor, Louis of Bavaria.* A French army 
was dispatched in the month of April to invade Hainault, and the 
fleet was ordered round to the coast of Holland to oppose the dis- 
embarkation of the English. Philip's naval force now numbered 
upward of 400 ships, well manned and equipped, and took up a 
position at the embouchure of the Scheldt, near Helvoetsluys. The 
English fleet came in sight toward evening on the 23d of June, 
and early the next morning Edwai'd bore down in order of battle, 
when a general action ensued, which was kept up with the great- 
est fury till late in the afternoon. The fleet of Philip was un- 
skillfully arranged, the ships being moored so close together, and 
so near in-shore, that they had no room to manoeuvre. There 
seems also to have been a want of concert and good understanding 
among the commanders. The battle was commenced by Sir "Wal- 
ter Manny, who gallantly boarded and carried the " Christopher," 
a ship of the largest size, which had been captured from the En- 
glish in the Channel some months before. This brilliant success 
mainly decided the fortune of the day. The prowess of Manny 
kindled a flame of emulation among his brethren in arms ; each 

* The emperor had appointed the King of England imperial vicar for the 
provinces comprised between the lihine and the sea, investing him with su- 
preme military command throughout those countries, and with all the rights 
and prerogatives of sovereignty. 



A.D. 1341, 1342. DISPUTED SUCCESSION IN BRITTANY. 203 

good knight exerted himself to the utmost, and performed prodi- 
gies of valor. The English ships were lashed firmly to those of 
the enemy, and a close and murderous conflict followed. After a 
gallant resistance, the French were compelled to give way on all 
sides, and almost the entire fleet fell into the hands of the triumph- 
ant English. Thirty thousand men are said to have perished on 
tlie side of France. The French navy was totally destroyed, and 
the maritime supremacy of England was from that time forth in- 
contestably established. Edward exposed himself throughout the 
day in the thickest of the fight, and was slightly wounded in the 
thigh. Immediately afterward he repaired to Ghent, where his 
queen Philippa was residing,* and allowed himself a few weeks' 
repose. Toward the end of July he advanced with a mighty host, 
including 60,000 Flemings under Van Artevelde, and formed the 
siege of Tournay. But again, as in the previous campaign, he 
gained no advantage upon land. A truce was concluded in the 
course of the year. It was continued beyond the period originally 
named, up to midsummer, 1342 ; and it might very probably have 
been converted into a durable peace, had not other and unexpect- 
ed events supervened, which reanimated Edward's hopes, and en- 
couraged him to embark once more upon the turbulent tide of war. 

§ 6. The circumstances which rekindled the smouldering embers 
of Avar between France and England arose out of a disputed suc- 
cession to the ducal throne of Brittany. John III., duke of Brit- 
tany, died without children on the 30th of April, 1341. His niece, 
Jeanne, countess of Penthievre, had been married some years pre- 
viously to Charles of Blois, a nephew of the King of France ; and, 
upon contracting this alliance, Charles had been publicly declared 
heir to the dukedom. But his claim was now contested by John, 
count of Montfort, a half-brother of the late duke, who insisted 
that, according to the immemorial custom of Bi'ittany, a female 
was incapable of inheriting except in absolute default of male pos- 
terity. The Count de Montfort, on hearing of the death of his 
brother, instantly seized ISTantes, the capital of the duchy, and es- 
tablished himself there Avith his countess, the heroic Marguerite 
of Flanders, one of the most remarkable characters of the time, 
whom Froissart describes as possessing "the courage of a man and 
the heart of a lion."' The French peers naturally gave their award 
in favor of the nephew of Philip ; Avhereupon Montfort threw him- 
self into the arms of Edward, who zealously espoused his cause, 
received his homage as Duke of Brittany, and created him Earl 
of Richmond. 

The first trial of strength between the rivals took place at 

* It was during her stay at Ghent that the queen gave hirth to her fourth 
son, John, afterward the famous John of Gaunt (or Ghent), duke of Lancaster. 



204 PHILIP VI. Chap. X. 

Nantes, where Montfort was besieged by Cliarles of Blois in Au- 
gust, 1341, Either by treachery or by capitulation, Nantes was 
surrendered to the assailants after some resistance ; and Montfort, 
being taken prisoner, was conducted to Paris, and closely confined 
in the Louvre. The Countess of Montfort, however, was still at 
liberty, and she now displayed the most extraordinary energy, res- 
olution, judgment, and skill, in defending the cause of her husband. 
She fixed herself at length in the town of Plennebon, Avhence she 
opened communications with England, and i-eceived from Edward 
assurances of speedy succor. She maintained the defense of this 
place with dauntless bravery, until, just as the garrison was begin- 
ning to despair, a large force arrived from England under the com- 
mand of Sir Walter de Manny, when the siege was immediately 
raised (1342). The French and English thus found themselves 
once more brought into collision, as auxiliaries of the two conflict- 
ing factions in Brittany. In the autumn of the same year the 
English monarch appeared in person on the French coast, but ef- 
fected nothing of importance. His troops beginning to suffer se- 
verely from the failure of provisions, a suspension of hostilities 
was arranged with Philip, and by the treaty of Malestroit, signed 
January 19, 1343, peace was established between the two sover- 
eigns, including all their allies and partisans on both sides, for three 
years from the Michaelmas following. 

§ 7. The quarrel, however, had by this time assumed a charac- 
ter of such bitter and profound animosity, that no engagement of 
this kind was likely to be faithfully observed. Before the close of 
the same year, an act of treacherous cruelty perpetrated by Philip 
betrayed too plainly his real views and feelings, and proved that 
the recommencement of hostilities could not be long delayed. Fif- 
teen of the most powerful barons of Brittany, whom the king had 
invited to a grand tournament, were suddenly arrested and thi'own 
into the Chatelet, upon a vague charge of intriguing with the En- 
glish ; and after a brief detention they were brought out and be- 
headed, without any form of trial, on the 29th of November, 1343.- 
Early in the next year three barons of Normandy were in like 
manner seized and put to death, in utter violation of all rules of 
justice. These deeds of bloody tyranny excited universal horror, 
and justified the King of England in asserting that the terras of 
the treaty had been notoriously broken on the part of the French. 
Edward declared war in a violent manifesto against Philip in 
1345, and in the following year he invaded France with an army 
of about 30,000 infantry. He landed at Cape La Hogue, in Nor- 
mandy, on the 12th of July, 1346, and advanced almost up to the 
gates of Paris, pillaging and burning the country. He then re- 
treated toward Flanders, followed by Philip with an army now aug- 



A.D. 1340. BATTLE OF CRECY. 205 

niented to near 100,000 men. The French king moved in a par- 
allel line, in oixler, if possible, to force his rival to give battle be- 
fore he could accomplish the difficult passage of the Somme. On 
the 24th of August Edward received intelligence of a ford between 
Abbeville and St. Valery, called la Blanche-tache, and, hastening 
to the spot before Philip and his forces could arrive, he transport- 
ed his whole army to the opposite bank in safety. The returning 
tide rendered Blanche-tache impassable to Philip, who fell back 
and crossed the Somme at Abbeville ; after which he marched 
rapidly toward the English, who halted on his approach, and form- 
ed in order of battle in an excellent position upon the edge of the 
forest of Crecy, about twelve miles from Abbeville. 

The memorable battle of Creoy was fought on the 26th of Au- 
gust, 1346. Philip, finding his troops fatigued and in some disor- 
der from their hasty march, had designed to defer the attack till 
the day following; but his orders were either misunderstood or 
willfully disregarded ; a desultory skirmish commenced ; and Phil- 
ip, seeing the combat inevitable, impetuously commanded the Gen- 
oese mercenaries to advance and charge the enemy. The Geno- 
ese obeyed, but at great disadvantage ; they were exhausted by 
the march, they were dazzled by the sun in their faces, and their 
bowstrings had been soaked by a heavy shower of rain. They 
rushed on, however, with a shout, and discharged their arrows ; 
but a close and well-aimed volley from the English archers in- 
stantly assailed them like a snow-storm, and carried terror and de- 
struction through their ranks. They turned, and would have fled, 
but were stopped by the dense masses of the French horsemen be- 
hind ; the latter rode furiously against them, and both were at once 
involved in inextricable confusion. The Counts of Alen^on and 
Flanders at length disengaged themselves, and, wheeling round, 
made a desperate onset on the first division of the English, com- 
manded by the young Prince of Wales. The prince fought hero- 
ically, but, finding himself hardly pressed, sent to entreat his father 
to support him with the reserve. The king, who watched the 
battle from a wind-mill, first satisfied himself that his son was nei- 
ther dead nor disabled, and then declined to move to his assistance. 
"Let the boy win his spurs," said he; "for, if God will, I desire 
that this day be his, and that all the honor of it shall remain Avith 
him, and those to whom I have given him in charge." Thus en- 
couraged and excited, the English stood as immovable as a rock, 
and a tremendous carnage ensued ; the Counts of Alengon and 
Flanders were slain ; the French, bereft of their leaders, wavered 
and gave way, and flic flight became general and irremediable. 
The veteran John of Bohemia, nearly blind with age, resolved to 
strike at least one good stroke before he surrendered, and, order- 



206 PHILIP VI. Chap. X. 

ing his attendants to fasten the reins of his chargei' to their own, 
dashed into the thickest of the enemy's ranks, when they all per- 
ished together. No quarter Avas granted by the victors in this fa- 
tal field, and the French loss was accordingly enormous ; twelve 
hundred knights, eighty bannerets, and thirty thousand common 
soldiers are said to have fallen, besides a multitude of princes, 
counts, and superior officers. Philip, who had conducted himself 
with tlie utmost .gallantry, fled with a scanty escort, and found 
himself by daybreak safe within the walls of Amiens. 

§ 8. Edward, immediately after this great victory, marched upon 
Calais, and invested that fortress, while the port was at the same 
time blockaded by a powerful fleet. 

Calais was defended with determined constancy and courage for 
upward of eleven months, during which time Philip made several 
vain efforts to relieve the place. The brave garrison, having en- 
dured the extremities of hunger and privation, was at length re- 
duced to the necessity of capitulating on the 4th of August, 134T. 
The circumstances which followed — the barbarous demands of Ed- 
ward, the magnanimous self-devotion of Eustache de Saint Pierre 
and his five companions, the generous and successful intercession 
of Queen Philippa — are familiarly known to every reader of his- 
tory.* Edward established in the conquered tov/n a numerous 
colony of his own subjects ; and Calais continued for more than 
two centuries a valuable appendage to the English crown. 

This campaign, so humiliating and disastrous to France, so glo- 
rious for the arms of England, was now brought to a close ; a 
truce for ten months was proclaimed on the 28tli of September, 
and Edward immediately returned to his dominions. 

The truce between France and England was not disturbed dur- 
ing the short remainder of the reign of Philip VI. The angry pas- 
sions of both nations were for a time checked and silenced by a 
dreadful visitation called the Black Pestilence, which ravaged al- 
most the whole of Europe during the years 1348 and 1349. Not 
less than fifty thousand persons were carried off by it in Paris alone. 
Among the victims were the queen of Philip (Jeanne of Burgundy), 
the Duchess of Normandy, the Duke of Burgundy, and the Queen 
of Navarre, daughter of King Louis X. The latter princess left a 
son, who succeeded to her crown, and has acquired an unenviable 
celebrity in history under the name of Charles the Bad. 

Philip, now a widower, espoused, on the 19th of January, 1350, 
the beautiful Blanche of Navai're, a princess of eighteen ; but some 
months after lie fell into a languishing sickness, of which he expired 
on the 22d of August, 1350. He had reigned twenty-two years. 

Philip was the first who imposed the tax called the gabelle, a 

* Sec St/idP7it's H/niie,]). 180-182. 



A.D. 1350-1364. ACCESSION OF JOHN. 207 

govei'nment monopoly of salt,* -which afterward proved so lucra- 
tive to the treasury, and became so oppressive and odious. 

In the last year of this reign the Dauphin of Vienne, Humbert 
II., who had no children, and was about to I'etire into a monastery, 
ceded his estates to Philip on behalf of his grandson Prince Charles, 
for the consideration of two hundred thousand florins. Other con- 
ditions were added, one of which provided that the province of 
Dauphine' should never be united to the crown of France. On this 
account, and to mark the importance of the acquisition, the young 
prince, on succeeding to the throne as Charles V., ordered that the 
title of Dauphin should be borne thenceforward by the eldest son 
of the reigning sovereign, the heir-apparent to the monarchy. 

§ 9. John, 1350-1364. — John, surnamed " le Bon," or "the 
Good," son of Philip VL, ascended the throne in the thirty-second 
year of his age. His character much resembled that of his father ; 
like him, he was proud, obstinate, presumptuous, cruel, and greatly 
addicted to luxury, display, and pleasure ; he possessed also the 
same personal bravery, the same love of military fame and glorj-, 
and the same anxiety to excel in all the virtues, graces, and exer- 
cises of chivalry. He found the kingdom in a state of extreme em- 
barrassment and depression ; but his was not the hand qualified to 
remedy its disorders and restore it to prosperity and greatness. 

The new king began his reign with an act of arbitrary sever- 
ity. The Constable of France, Eaoul de Nesle, a trusted and fa- 
vorite servant of Philip VI., had been taken prisoner by the En- 
glish in the late invasion ; he now obtained leave to proceed to 
France for the purpose of raising money for his ransom ; but no 
sooner had he reached Paris than John caused him to be arrested 
and forthwith put to death, without trial or hearing of any kind. 
His supposed offense Avas that of having entertained a design to 
surrender his castle of Guines into the hands of the English king ; 
but no sort of proof was ever adduced to support the charge. The 
Constable's sword was bestowed on the king's chosen companion 
and bosom counselor, Charles de la Cerda, brother of Prince Louis, 
who had commanded under Charles of Blois in Brittany ; and, not 
content Avith this, John farther gratified his favorite with the county 
of Angouleme, recently ceded by Charles of Navarre upon the prom- 
ise of other territories in exchange. These promised fiefs, however, 
were withheld ; and John had thus the misfortune to incur the dead- 
ly resentment of a prince who seemed born to be the evil genius of 
France. 

§ 10. Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, was a singular instance 
of the combination of great mental endowments with the Avorst dis- 

* This occasioned a bon-mot of Edward III., who called Philip the author 
of the Sa/ic law. 



208 JOHN. Chap.X. 

positions, by which all his gifts were perverted into instruments of 
evil. He had received from Nature talents of a high order ; he pos- 
sessed a remax'kable power of eloquence, keen penetration, popular 
insinuating manners ; but beneath this attractive exterior he con- 
cealed a malicious, treacherous, revengeful heart, capable of the 
most atrocious crimes ; nor was he ever known to hesitate at any 
sacrifice to his ambition, hatred, or other dominant passion. Sucli 
a man was not to be affronted with impunity. Moreover, inde- 
pendently of his personal character, his birth gave him a position 
of high political importance ; for as the grandson, by his mother's 
side, of Louis X., his pretensions to the throne of France were su- 
perior to those of Edward of England, and were in fact indisput- 
able, but for the law of female exclusion. He likewise held large 
feudal possessions, inherited from his father the Count of Evreux ; 
and John had lately bestowed on him in marriage the hand of his 
daughter the Princess Jeanne. 

This dangerous personage vowed vengeance against the Con- 
stable de la Cerda, Avho, on his part, took no pains to hide his ha- 
tred and contempt for Charles. Dissembling his purpose for some 
time, the King of Navarre Avatched his opportunity, and on the 
19th of January, 1354, he surprised the Constable at the town of 
I'Aigle, and caused him to be assassinated in his bed. Charles 
boldly avowed the deed, and defied the indignation of the king. 
John, in his first outbreak of fury, gave orders for an attack upon 
Evreux and an invasion of Navarre ; but, on reflection, he judged 
it wiser not to provoke to extremity one who possessed such for- 
midable means of retaliation ; negotiations took place ; and a com- 
promise was effected through the good offices of the two queens- 
dowager, the widows of Charles IV. and Philip VI., both near rel- 
atives of Charles of Navarre. 

The reconciliation, however, was hollow ; on both sides there 
reigned profound hypocrisy and a total want of confidence. The 
King of Navarre instigated the Dauphin Charles to place himself 
at the head of a party opposed to his father. John, on discovering 
this new offense, was exasperated beyond all bounds, and availed 
liimself of the familar intimacy between his son and the King of 
Navarre as a means of executing his projects of vengeance. Pro- 
ceeding suddenly to Rouen, where the dauphin, as Duke of Nor- 
mandy, held his court, the king entered the castle Avith a chosen 
escort, and strode into the banqueting-hall, where the young prince 
Avas at table Avith the King of Navarre, the Count of Harcourt, 
and other distinguished guests. John assailed his enemy Avith 
fiu-ious menaces, and even so far forgot his dignity as f o oft'er him 
personal outrage ; the Count of Harcourt and tAvo other noblemen 
Avcro hurried into the castle-yard and beheaded in the monarch's 



A.D. 135G. BATTLE OF POITIERS. 209 

presence ; Charles of Navarre was spared at the earnest interces- 
sion of the dauphin, but was consigned to a dungeon in the Chat- 
elet, wliere he was treated with extreme rigor, and teri^ified day- 
after day by his keepers with threats of 'approaching death. 

§ 11. This occurred in April, 1356. In the summer of the same 
yeai', Philip of Navarre, brother of the captive Charles, supported 
by Godfrey of Harcourt and other powerful lords, effected a junc- 
tion with the Duke of Lancaster and the English, and levied war 
upon John in Normandy. John assembled his forces, and, after 
driving back the enemy into the Cotentin, laid siege to Breteuil, a 
fortress belonging to the King of Navarre. Here he received the 
alarming intelligence that the war with the English had burst forth 
with destructive fury in Aquitaine. Edward the Black Prince of 
Wales had marched from Bordeaux in July with a small army of 
eight thousand men, and had penetrated to the gates of Bourges. 
Eaising the siege of Breteuil, the French king now rapidly ad- 
vanced into Poitou, with the purpose of intercepting the Prince 
of Wales and cutting off his reti'eat into Guienne. Proceeding by 
forced marches, John found himself, on reaching Chauvigny on the 
16tli of September, a day in advance of the English commander. 
Edward saw at once that he must either fight or surrender ; and, 
not dismayed by the result of a reconnaissance which showed him 
the immense numerical superiority of his opponents, he determined 
to abide the issue of battle. On the 17th he drew up his troops, 
with great judgment, on an elevated plateau called Maupertuis, 
about two leagues north of Poiiiees, and there awaited the attack 
of the French. His position was intersected by hedges, inclosures, 
and vineyards, and was approached from the side of Poitiers by a 
narrow hollow causeAvay running between steep banks, so that it 
was almost unassailable by cavalry, while it offered great advant- 
ages to marksmen and small detached bodies of light troops. On 
the next day, at the moment when the French king was prepar- 
ing to engage, two papal legates made their appearance in his 
camp, and endeavored to mediate between the rival leaders and 
prevent the effusion of blood. King John granted a delay • of 
twenty-four hours for the purpose of negotiation ; and the Cardi- 
nal Talleyrand de Perigord proceeded to urge upon the Prince of 
Wales the necessity of coming to terms, if he would avoid utter 
destruction. Edward offered to restoi-e all prisonei'S taken in the 
campaign, to abandon his conquests, and to bind himself by oath 
not to take arms against the King of France for the space of seven 
years. But John, confident of victory, demanded that the prince 
and one hundred of his knights should give themselves up as pris- 
oners into his hands ; and Edwaixl, deeming such conditions incon- 
sistent with his honor, returned a prompt refusal, and committed 



210 JOHN. Chap, X. 

himself to the fate of arms, saying that " God would defend the 
right." 

Early on the morning of the 19th of September, 1356, the 
French gave the signal of attack, and the two marshals Audenham 
and Claremont, with a body of chosen knights, charged gallantly 
up the hollow way ; but in so doing they were exposed to the mur- 
derous shafts of the English bowmen who lined the hedges, and 
their ranks were terribly thinned and thrown into confusion long 
before they gained the brow of the ascent. Those Avho reached 
the prince's position were fiercely encountered by his men-at-arms, 
and forced down the hill upon the broken mass below, now still 
more disordered by the advancing " battle" of the Duke of Nor- 
mandy. One of the marshals was slain, the other taken prisoner ; 
and the Captal de Buch, who had been stationed in ambush with 
six hundred horsemen, now rushed from his concealment and bore 
down furiously upon the dauphin's troops. Thus unexpectedly 
assailed in flank, while their path was blocked up in front by their 
defeated comrades, the second division of the French were unable 
to sustain the shock ; they gave Avay, and the narrow lane instant- 
ly became a scene of indescribable confusion and fearful carnage. 
At this critical moment, the Prince of Wales, acting upon the ad- 
vice of the celebrated English knight John Chandos, ordered his 
whole line to descend the hill and charge the enemy in front ; and, 
the French being already disheartened and panic-struck, this attack 
Avas decisive of the fortunes of the day. The Dauphin Charles 
and his brothers Louis and John turned their horses and took flight 
towaird Chauvigny, followed by more than eight hundred cavaliers 
who had not drawn sword that day ; and the corps commanded by 
the Duke of Orleans, sixteen thousand strong, carried away by the 
fatal example, fled ignominiously from the field, leaving their king, 
with the sole division of his army that remained unbroken, to en- 
counter the impetuous advance of the English. 

The final struggle was nobly, but fruitlessly maintained by the 
chivalrous John and his rear guard. The king defended himself 
on foot with a heavy battle-axe ; his youngest son, Philip, after- 
ward Duke of Burgundy, a youth of fourteen, fought like a hero 
by his side ; but at length, having seen numbers of his most dis- 
tinguished knights and nobles perish around him, and being hard 
pressed by the English, who made desperate eftbrts to reach liis 
person, the unfortunate monarch surrendered to an outlawed knight 
of Artois, Denis de Morbecque by name, who had taken service 
under Edward of England. He was conducted to the Prince of 
Wales, who received his illustrious captive with every mark of 
profound respect and generous sympathy; giving him precedence 
as King of P^rance, attending upon liim wliile he sat at table, and 



A. D. 1357. THE DAUPHIN ASSUMES THE REGENCY. 211 

striving to soothe him by admiring praises of his warlike prowess, 
and assurances of honorable treatment on the part of his royal 
father. 

The bloody battle of Poitiers cost France no less than two thou- 
sand five hundred of her nobility and chivalry, and between seven 
and eight thousand common soldiers, out of a total force of nearly 
sixty thousand. The prisoners alone amounted to more than 
*double the numbers of the victorious army. 

King John was carried to Bordeaux, and in the spring of 1357 
was removed to England, where he experienced a most courteous 
reception from Edward, who assigned as his residence the ancient 
palace of the Savoy in London. ElForts to conclude a peace were 
made, but failed ; a truce, however, was signed for two years from 
Easter, 1357. 

§ 12. Meanwhile the state of things in France was one of gen- 
eral consternation and confusion. The Dauphin Charles reached 
Paris ten days after the battle, and assumed the government un- 
der the title of lieutenant general of the kingdom. The States- 
General were assembled without delay at Paris ; and it soon ap- 
peared that a determined struggle was about to be made, at this 
alarming crisis, to obtain for the people, through their representa- 
tives, an acknowledged share in the conduct of public affairs. The 
popular leaders were two men of superior talent, fearless resolu- 
tion, and sincere patriotism — Etienne Marcel, "Prevot des Mar- 
chands," or head of the municipality of Paris, and Kobert Lecoq, 
bishop of Laon. Under their influence the assembly named a 
committee of eighty members to deliberate upon measures to be 
taken for the defense and administration of the kingdom in the 
absence of the sovereign. This committee presented to the dauphin 
various startling demands, which he evaded for the time ; and, hav- 
ing promised to convoke the States again early in the next year, 
he proceeded to raise money in the interval by depreciating the 
current coin of the realm. 

When the States-General of Paris again met, in February, 1357, 
they not only insisted on their former demands, but stipulated in 
addition that the adulterated coin should be withdrawn and a new 
currency issued ; that the management of the taxes, and the ex- 
ecution of all great measui'es of reform requii-ed by the present 
emergency, should be intrusted to a committee of thirty-six per- 
sons nominated by themselves ; and also that farther meetings of 
the States should be held, when they should see fit, in the course 
of the year. Upon these conditions the States engaged to raise 
and maintain a force of thirty thousand men, to be paid by a tax 
of fifteen per cent, levied on the revenues of the three orders. 

Charles found it absolutely necessary to yield, and published an 



212 JOHN. Chap.X. 

edict by which he adopted, without reserve, all the prescribed con- 
ditions. At the same time, however, he secretly procured from 
his father a refusal to ratify the compact ; and orders ai-rived from 
John peremptorily annulling all the acts of the States-General, 
and forbidding his subjects to pay the subsidy which they had 
voted. A furious struggle ensued. The agitators released the 
King of Navarre from his prison near Cambrai, and brought him 
in triumph to Paris, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm by 
the populace, and urged to assert his right to the throne against 
the usurping house of Valois. Paris now became a scene of 
frightful disorder ; Marcel, exasperated and vindictive, placed him- 
self at the head of the multitude, and distinguished his fi-iends by 
a parti-colored hood (chaperon) of red and blue, the civic colors 
of Paris. They arrayed themselves in open and violent insurrec- 
tion against the court; and on the 22d of February, 1358, a par- 
ty of the rioters, headed by Marcel himself, forced their Avay into 
the palace, and cruelly murdered, in the very presence of the help- 
less dauphin, two of his confidential advisers, the Marshals of 
Champagne and Normandy. The prince was compelled by Mar- 
cel to signify to the people his approval of this atrocious deed, 
and to associate himself with the cause of the insurgents by adopt- 
ing their rallying sign of the parti-colored hood. 

Mai-cel was at this moment virtually master of France ; but, 
instead of using his power to secure for his country some solid 
guaranty of constitutional freedom, he allowed the dauphin to 
leave Paris and retire to Compiegne, where he assembled the States- 
General. The nobility flocked to support him, a strong reaction 
commenced in favor of the royal cause, and civil war was the de- 
plorable result. 

§ 13. At this juncture burst forth the frightful insurrection call- 
ed the Jacquerie — a general rising of the enslaved peasants of the 
provinces against the nobles, prompted not so much by the love of 
liberty as by the desperation of utter and hopeless misery, and a 
ferocious thirst of vengeance upon their tyrants. The revolt of 
the Jacques, as they were called (from the familiar nickname of 
Jacques Bonhorame applied to the French peasantry) commenced 
in the neighborhood of Clermont and Beauvais, in May, 1358, and 
quickly overspread the northern and western districts. It was a 
war of wholesale extermination ; the feudal chateaux were assail- 
ed, sacked, burnt, and razed to the ground, and their inmates, doAvn 
to the youngest infant, put to the sword, with every circumstance 
of almost incredible barbarity. The daring demagogue Marcel 
naturally attempted to direct the Jacquerie so as to serve liis own 
purposes ; he negotiated Avith the leaders of the revolted serft, and 
furnished them with a powerful body of auxiliaries ; and, by his 



A.D. 1358. SUPPRESSION OF THE INSURRECTION IN PARIS. 213 

advice, an immense multitude of the insurgents proceeded to be- 
siege the town of Meaux, whei-e the wife of the dauphin, the Duch- 
ess of Orleans, and near three hundred other ladies of high rank, 
had taken refuge under the protection of the Duke of Orleans 
and a scanty garrison. The population of Meaux took part with 
the assailants, and a horrible catastrophe might have ensued but 
for the gallantry of two illustrious knights, G"aston Phoebus, count 
of Foix, and the Captal de Buch, who, on hearing of the danger, 
hastened to the relief of the beleaguered city. Aided by their 
valor, the defenders executed a successful sally, and the peasants 
were totally routed, seven thousand of their number being slain 
on the spot. 

This single defeat sufficed to decide the fate of the Jacquerie. 
The nobles, recovering from their panic, exerted themselves reso- 
lutely to suppress the rebellion, and the unhappy serfs Avere hunt- 
ed down on all sides like wild beasts. 1'housands were massacred, 
and within a few weeks the silence of ghastly desolation reigned 
throughout the rural districts. 

The dauphin now encamped with a large army under the walls 
of Paris, and effected a secret understanding with Charles of Na- 
varre, who, ever fickle and perfidious, sold his support by turns to 
the popular party and the court, without a thought for any thing 
but his own selfish interest. His falsehood was suspected by Mar- 
cel and the popular chiefs ; but without his aid it was now evi- 
dent that the dauphin must shortly become master of Paris, in 
which case there was no hope of mercy for the murderers of the 
two marshals. It was therefore necessaiy to gain over Charles 
at any price ; and Marcel accordingly made an engagement with 
him, by which Paris was to be given up into the hands of the King 
of Navarre, the principal adherents of the dauphin were to be as- 
sassinated, and Charles was then to be proclaimed King of France. 
This treacherous plot was discovered by Jean Maillart, one of the 
sheriffs of Paris, who determined to defeat it. Collecting a strong 
party of the dauphin's friends, Maillart surprised the traitor at the 
very moment when he was about to introduce Charles and his sol- 
diers into the city by the Porte St. Antoine, and with one blow of 
a hatchet stretched him dead at his feet. (July 31, 1358.) 

Two days afterward the dauphin re-entered Paris, and proceed- 
ed to signalize his triumph by several examples of extreme, but 
perhaps, under the circumstances, not unnecessary severity. Many 
of the principal men of Marcel's party were put to death on the 
scaffold ; others were punished with exile and confiscation ; all 
who had taken part in the rebellion suffered more or less from the 
prince's vengeance. All the measures of reform advised by the 
States-General were annulled ; the former ministers wei-e rein- 



214 JOHN. Chap. X. 

stated ; and the royal authority became, in fact, more absolute than 
ever. Thus terminated this memorable attempt to impose some 
constitutional check upon the arbitrary and irresponsible power 
of the French monarchs. Various causes contributed to its fail- 
ure — the extravagance and sanguinary violence of Marcel, and his 
alliance with a confederate in every way so u:nworthy as the King 
of Navarre ; but chiefly, it would seem, the want of intelligent and 
determined co-operation on the part of the States-General, and 
their neglect to retain in their own hands the all-important power 
of taxation. The movement was crude and premature ; still it 
was not devoid of some valuable results, which may be traced in 
several measures of wise reformation adopted by Charles V. and 
some of his successors. 

§ 14. While the regent thus triumphed in Paris, Charles of Na- 
varre renewed the Avar in the provinces ; his bands of adventurers 
— English, French, and Navarrese — ravaged the country far and 
wide, and for more than a year longer France groaned under the 
miseries of civil strife. In August, 1359, a treaty, disadvanta- 
geous to the dauphin, was signed with Charles at Pontoise, and a 
prospect opened of some respite from this desolating warfare. 
But at the same moment news reached Paris that the captive John 
had entered into a shameful and inexcusable convention with the 
King of England, by which he ceded to Edward in absolute sover- 
eignty not only Aquitaine, but also Normandy, Touraine, Poitou, 
Saintonge, the Limousin — in short, at least one half of his domin- 
ions. The dauphin nobly determined to resist these terms of 
crushing humiliation ; he assembled the States-General, and the 
treaty was at once repudiated with universal scorn, the deputies 
declaring that they preferred enduring any amount of internal ca- 
lamity to giving their sanction to such a ruinous dismemberment 
of France. This spirited and patriotic step produced a second in- 
vasion of France by Edward in October, 1359. The English king, 
with an immense and admirably appointed force, proceeded through 
Picardy to Reims, which he besieged ineffectually ; thence, finding 
it impossible to subsist his army in the exhausted condition of the 
country, he marched'into Burgundy, which was compelled to pur- 
chase its neutrality for an enormous sum ; finally, descending the 
Yonne, Edward appeared before the capital, and defied Charles to 
a pitched battle. This, however, the regent declined ; and, either 
from want of provisions, or from inability to undertake a formida- 
ble and protracted siege, Edward withdrew from Paris, and took 
the road to Chartres. Here the sight of the pi'ivations endured 
in liis camp, and the effects of a terrific tempest, which caused an 
awful sacrifice of life among his soldiers, are said to have determ- 
ined him to open negotiations for peace. By the treaty of Bretig- 



A.D. 1360, 1361. JOHN EELEASED FROM CAPTIVITY. 215 

ny, subscribed by the commissioners of both monarchs on the 8th 
of" May, 1360, France obtained terms which, although far more 
moderate than those so rashly accepted by John, were still suffi- 
ciently galling to her national pride. The whole province of 
Aquitaine, including Pe'rigord, Quercy, and Bigorre — and, in addi- 
tion, the counties of Poitou, Angoumois, Limousin, and Saintonge 
— were ceded to Edward in full sovereignty, independently of all 
homage to the crown of France. Edward, on his part, renounced 
for himself and for the Prince of Wales all pretensions to the 
French throne, as well as to Normandy and other ancient pos- 
sessions of the Plantagenets north of the Loire. The ransom of 
the King of France was fixed at three millions of crowns, payable 
in six years ; the king was to be set at liberty upon the payment 
of the first instalment, and a certain number of hostages, chosen 
from the first men in the kingdom, were to remain in the hands 
of Edward until it was acquitted in full. 

It was not without considerable difficulty that the regent pro- 
cured the stipulated sum for his father's liberation ; but it was at 
length raised, and on the 25th of October the king found himself 
free, after four years of captivity. He made his entry into Paris 
on the 13th of December, and was welcomed with universal trans- 
ports of joy and gratitude. The satisfaction with which the dear- 
bought peace of Bretigny was every where hailed is the plainest 
proof of the extreme depression and misery into which France had 
sunk during this melancholy period. 

§ -15. The remainder of John's reign presents few transactions 
of importance. The terrible "Black Pestilence" reappeared in 
the autumn of 1361, and among its victims were the Queen of 
France, and her son by her first marriage, the youthful Philip de 
Kouvre, duke of Burgundy. The direct line of this ancient house 
being now extinct. King John asserted his right to the succession 
as the nearest male relative of the late duke ; and disregarding 
the equal, if not superior claim of the King of Navarre, he pro- 
ceeded to Dijon, took possession of the duchy, and annexed it to 
the royal domain. 

The king's second son, Louis of Anjou, had"been delivered up as 
one of the hostages under the treaty of Bretigny. Wearying of 
his confinement at Calais, the young prince broke his parole, ef- 
fected his escape, and hastened to Paris. John, who, as a " preux 
chevalier," was keenly sensitive upon the point of honor, now re- 
solved to atone for his son's breach of faith by returning in person 
to England, and surrendering himself again a prisoner. Before 
his departure he bestowed the duchy of Burgundy in appanage 
upon his youngest and favorite son Philip, afterward called the 
Bold, expressly stating in the charter that the grant was made in 



216 CHARLES V. - Chap.X. 

recompense of the prince's courage and devotion in defending his 
father at the risk of his own life on the field of Poitiers. This 
was an act of shortsighted and mistaken policy, as tending to 
weaken the monarchy by perpetuating the system of feudal divi- 
sion. Philip the Bold thus became the founder of the second du- 
cal house of Burgundy, which in the following century was to as- 
sume a position of no mean rivalry Avith the throne itself. John 
sailed for England in January, 1364, and was received in London 
with the most friendly courtesy and magnificent rejoicings. In 
the midst of these festivities he was taken ill at the Savoy Palace, 
and after a few weeks' sviffering expired there on the 8tli of April, 
at the age of forty-five. 

§ 16. Charles V., 1364-1380. — Charles V., upon whom the 
crown now devolved, was a prince of very different disposition and 
character from his father. Of a feeble bodily constitution, he had 
no taste for chivalry and war; he was studious, sedentary, re- 
served ; and his habitual prudence and caution, joined to a certain 
acquaintance with science, especially with astrology, procured him 
the surname of le Sage, or the Wise, by which he is generally 
known. Charles's personal infirmities were abundantly redeemed 
by the possession of that inestimable talent for the ruler of a great 
kingdom, the faculty of discerning and choosing aright the instru- 
ments for eifecting his purposes ; the art of carrying out his own 
counsels and projects by a successful use of the agency of others. 
His chief general was the far-famed hero Bertrand du Guesclin, 
the son of a poor gentleman in Lower Brittany, who had already 
given proof of great military genius in the war between Montfort 
and Charles of Blois. 

The flames of civil war were raging at this time in Spain be- 
tween Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile, and his natural brother, 
Henry of Trastamara. The latter prince, driven across the bor- 
der into France, implored the succor of Charles against the blood- 
thirsty tyrant, who, in addition to other atrocities, was accused of 
having poisoned his wife, Blanche of Bourbon, sister of the Queen 
of France. Henry of Trastamara received a favorable answer ; 
•and Du Guesclin engaged to levy an army among the free com- 
panies, and conduct them across the Pyrenees, to assist in conquer- 
ing the Castilian throne for the young pi'etender. Upon the entry 
of the French into Catalonia in December, 1365, an almost uni- 
versal insurrection against the detested Pedro ensued ; he escaped 
with difficulty from the country, and sought shelter at the court 
of tlie Black Prince at Bordeaux ; and his brother took possession 
of his vacant seat without striking a blow. Pedro now prevailed 
upon the English prince to employ his forces in re-establishing 
Lim upon llic tlirojie. Li FebruMvy, 1307, tlie Prince of Wales 



A.D. 13(38. WAR AVITH PEDKO THE CRUEL. 217 

and his army, including 10,000 English troops of the free com- 
panies, descended into Spain, and marched in quest of Henry of 
Trastamara and Du Guesclin. The armies met on the 3d of 
April between the villages of Najara and Navarrete, on the con- 
fines of Castile and Navarre, and, after an obstinate and gallant con- 
test, a brilliant victory remained with the English. Du Guesclin 
was captured, the free companies were cut down by thousands, and 
the survivors dispersed in utter dismay through the country. Don 
Henry effected his escape from the field, passed the frontier in dis- 
guise, and reached in safety the papal court at Avignon. 

Events now took a singular and unexpected turn, which pro- 
duced consequences in the highest degree important to the for- 
tunes of the French monarchy. 

Pedro of Castile failed to fulfill his engagements Math the Black 
Prince, and the latter found himself unable to pay the mercenaries 
of the free companies on their return from Spain. Discontented 
and indignant, the}^ began to commit depredations upon Edward's 
vassals in Aquitaine ; and being thereupon desired by the prince to 
evacuate his territories, they bui'St into the neighboring provinces 
of France, which once more became a prey to their destructive 
excesses. This raised among the suffering population a furious 
outcry of hostility and vengeance against England ; and the rule 
of the Black Prince became at the same moment extremely odious 
in Gascony, on account of the heavy taxes he was compelled to 
impose to defray the cost of the late campaign. The rich nobles 
remonstrated, threatened, and refused to pay the required sub- 
sidies ; and in June, 1368, three of the most powerful lords of 
Guienne took the bold step of carrying their complaint before the 
King of France as lord paramount, and invoking his interference 
for the redress of their grievances. That Charles himself had 
secretly encouraged this outbreak of disaffection against Edward 
tliere can be no reasonable doubt. Many favorable circumstances 
concurred to determine him to precipitate a ruptui'e of the peace 
of Bretigny. Edward HI. was growing old and infirm ; the Black 
Prince was languishing vmder a sei-ious malady contracted in his 
Spanish campaign ; the national pride of the inhabitants of the 
lately ceded provinces revolted against the English yoke. Ee- 
solved to avail himself to the utmost of this propitious moment, 
Charles concluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, with Henry 
of Trastamara, and dispatched Du Guesclin, at the head of the 
free companies, to aid him in a second attempt to seat himself 
upon the throne of his ancestors. The tyrant Pedro was defeated 
and captured at the battle of Montiel, and shortly afterward lost 
his wretched life in a personal encounter with his brotlier. Henry 
was now immediately recognized as King of Castile, and Charles 

K 



218 CHARLES V. Chai-. X. 

V. threw off the mask. The final ratifications of the treaty of 
Bretigny had not yet been exchanged ; and upon this pretext 
Charles declared that he had never renounced the suzerainty over 
Aquitaine and the other English fiefs, which belonged to him as 
King of France. Accordingly, in January, 1369, he addressed a 
formal summons to the hero of Poitiers and Navarrete, citing him 
to appear before him in the court of peers, and answer the com- 
plaints and accusations of his Gascon vassals. " We will not 
fail," replied Edward, " to obey the order of the King of France ; 
we will proceed to Paris, but it shall be with bassinet on our head, 
and sixty thousand men to bear us company." 

§ 17. War now commenced simultaneously in the north and the 
south of France. Charles gave the command of his forces to his 
three brothers, the Dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, and Berry ; but, 
profiting by the lessons of past disasters, he expressly enjoined 
them to avoid the hazard of pitched battles, and trust to a system 
of harassing guerilla warfare and separate sieges. The Avhole 
county of Ponthieu was reconquered in a single week; the dis- 
tricts of Quercy, Rouergue, and Agenois submitted before the end 
of June ; and the death of Sir John Chandos, seneschal of PoitoUj 
opened an easy road to the reduction of that country. In the fol- 
lowing year (1370) the Prince of Wales, though sinking rapidly 
under the inroads of disease, achieved a brilliant success in the 
assault and capture of Limoges, but stained his victory by giving 
up the town to pillage, and ordering the massacre of more than 
three thousand unoffending and helpless citizens. This was the 
last warlike exploit of the illustrious prince ; a few months after- 
ward the declining state of his health compelled him to quit 
France, to which he never again returned. 

Reverses now befell the English arms in quick succession and 
on all points. Du Guesclin, whom Charles had appointed Con- 
stable of France, advanced into Poitou (1372), and commenced a 
series of successful enterprises, which ended in the complete recov- 
ery of the whole territory between the Loire and the Gironde. 

In the spring of 1373 the Constable was dispatched with an 
army into Brittany, where the people had shown a disposition to 
rise against their duke and declare for France. Du Guesclin was 
accompanied in this expedition by the famous Olivier de Clisson, 
afterward Constable, a stern warrior, who, in his fierce enmity to 
the English, had sworn never to grant quarter to one of that de- 
tested race, and had acquired in consequence the surname of the 
Butcher. Most of the Breton fortresses surrendered to the French 
commanders, and De Montfort was forced to fly for succor to the 
court of his father-in-law, Edward of England. 

Edward was in consternation at the successes of Charles, who 



A.D. 1373-1378. SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH. 219 

while he never made his appearance in the field, gave him more 
trouble, he declared, than any one he had ever encountered. Ee- 
solving to make a final and desperate effort, the English king once 
more raised an army for the invasion of France, which landed at 
Calais, under the orders of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, in 
July, 1373. Charles strictly charged his generals to adhere to 
the plan of cautious defensive warfare, and never to accept a great 
battle. "Let the storm rage," said he; "retire before it; it will 
soon exhaust itself." The English traversed the country, and to- 
ward autumn reached the mountains of Auvergne, where they be- 
gan to suffer greatly from stormy weather, difficult roads, and want 
of provisions ; the French hung on their flanks, harassing them at 
every turn, and cutting off frequent bands of stragglers. Before 
he arrived at Bordeaux the duke had lost at least a third of his 
army, and out of thirty thousand horses had scarcely preserved six 
thousand. A multitude of English, among whom were many dis- 
tinguished knights and nobles, perished during the winter from the 
privations, fatigues, and hardships to which they had been exposed ; 
and, in a word, the expedition was completely ruined. Numbers 
of towns and fortresses in Gascony now declared for the King of 
France, and the rule of the English in the south became visibly 
more precarious day by day. The only places of importance which 
remained in their hands by the close of the year were Bordeaux, 
Bayonne, and Calais. 

By the interposition of the Pope a truce for two years was pro- 
claimed in June, 1375; and before its expiration the two hiost in- 
veterate and formidable enemies of France, Edward III. and his 
son the Black Prince, had been removed by the hand of death. 

§ 18. Charles V., fully appreciating the advantages offered by 
the prospect of a long minority in England, refused to renew the 
truce ; and Edward was scarcely cold in his coffin before the com- 
bined fleets of France and Castile made a descent upon the oppo- 
site coast near Rye, which town they reduced to ashes ; then pro- 
ceeding Avestward, they ravaged the shores of Sussex, the Isle of 
Wight, Dartmouth, and Plymouth, and in returning insulted 
Southampton and Dover. Meanwhile the Duke of Burgundy 
pursued the war in Artois ; Olivier de Clisson reduced the few 
fortified places in Brittany which still held out for Jean de Mont- 
fort ; Du Guesclin and the Duke of Anjou completed the subjec- 
tion of the English possessions on the Dordogne, the Garonne, and 
the Gironde. Every where the French arms were triumphant, 
and the population returned Avith eager satisfaction to the domin- 
ion of their natural rulers. 

§ 19. Leaving the conduct of the war to his generals, Charles 
addressed himself in 1378 to a more delicate and difficult t-ask — 



220 CHARLES V. Chap. X. 

the unraveling and frustrating a new plot hatched against him by 
the infamous Charles of Navai're. A Navari-ese noble named De 
Rue, who had come to Paris in the suite of the Count de Beau- 
mont, eldest son of the King of Navarre, w^as suddenly arrested 
and tried by a royal commission ; his confession is said to have 
implicated his master in a design not only to support the English 
in a new invasion, but also to destroy the King of France by pois- 
on. The young Count de Beaumont, upon being informed of these 
grave revelations, renounced his fealty to his father, and ordered 
the governors of Charles's fortresses in Normandy to surrender 
them to the officers of the French king. Charles thus obtained 
possession of all the strong-holds belonging to his enemy, with the 
sole exception of Cherbourg. The unfortunate De Rue, and an- 
other emissary of the King of Navarre, named Du Tertre, Avere 
now declared guilty of high treason, and executed accordingly, in 
the barbarous fashion of the times. Whether this scheme was 
really meditated by Charles of Navarre, or how far it was fabric- 
ated or exaggerated by Charles V. as a pretext for crushing his 
ancient foe, we have no means of ascertaining. In either case it 
turned greatly to the advantage of France. Besides losing his 
towns in Normandy, Charles the Bad was besieged in Pampeluna 
by the Castilian allies of the King of France, and compelled to 
purchase peace by the cession of several of the strongest castles 
of Navarre. 

§ 20. The last enterprise of Charles V. was the least successful 
of his reign. Relying on the eager zeal wijth which the Bretons 
had embraced the cause of France in her struggle with England, 
the king proceeded to summon the expelled duke, Jean de Mont- 
fort, to appear before the court of peers; and a certain period hav- 
ing elapsed without reply, a royal decree declared the duchy for- 
feited, and annexed it to the crown. Charles departed in this in- 
stance from his usual prudence : he had not calculated on the 
deep and fervent attachment of the Bretons to their national in- 
dependence. A violent insurrection was the consequence. The 
chief nobles leagued together to resist the offensive decree, and re- 
called the banished Jean de Montfort, who landed at St. Malo in 
August, 1379, and was received with transports of enthusiasm. 
The duke soon found himself surrounded by a powerful army, and, 
what was of far more serious omen for the interests of Charles, 
all the Breton generals abandoned the French standard, and de- 
clared with one voice for the national cause. Even the faithful 
and highminded Du Guesclin renounced his office as constable and 
retired from court. Charles saw his error, and condescended to 
entreat the veteran warrior to resume his post ; to this, it seems, 
he consented, but at the same time steadily refused to draw his 



A.D. 1380. DEATH OF DU GUESCLIN AND CHARLES V. 221 

sword against his patriot countrymen. Charles still persisted, 
with tfnaccountable obstinacy, in his designs upon Brittany ; and 
the entire population of the province, upon whom he might other- 
wise have counted as stanch and powerful allies against England, 
was now hopelessly alienated from his crown. 

Meanwhile serious disturbances had broken out in Languedoc 
through the maladministration and oppression of the Duke of 
Anjou. The revolt was put down with difficulty, and the duke 
proceeded to such measures of cruel and intolerable vengeance, 
that the king suddenly recalled him, and placed the government 
of the province in the hands of the Count ofFoix. The English 
free companies took advantage of this moment of confusion to 
seize several towns and castles along the frontier of Languedoc. 
The inhabitants threw themselves upon the king's protection, and 
entreated help, and Charles charged the Constable Du Guesclin 
with an expedition for this purpose. In July, 1380, Du Guesclin 
laid siege to Chateauneuf de Kandan, a small town and fortress 
between Mende and Le Puy ; here he was attacked by illness, 
which, before the place capitulated, reduced him to the borders of 
the grave. The governor had sworn to surrender to none but the 
great Constable ; and on the day after his death (July 13th, 1380) 
the keys of the castle were brought into his tent, and deposited in 
silence upon the body of the departed hero. The loss of this il- 
lustrious soldier filled France with mourners. The king caused 
the corpse to be transported to Paris, where it Avas interred, with 
marks of almost regal honor, among the tombs of the French 
monarchs at St. Denis. 

The death of the Constable was followed, two months later, by 
that of Charles V. himself. According to common report, a dead- 
ly poison had been administered to him in his early youth through 
the unnatural machinations of the King of Navarre. A German 
physician arrested the progress of the venom by opening an issue 
in his arm ; forewarning him that, if at any time the issue should 
close, his death was inevitable within fifteen days. Charles rec- 
ognized the fatal symptom with firmness and serenity. He sum- 
moned round him his three brothers and his brother-in-law, the 
Duke of Bourbon, and having earnestly commended his son Charles 
to their care and protection, and addressed to them much wise 
and able counsel on the condition and government of the king- 
dom, he expired at the chateau of Beaute-sur-Mai'ne, on the 16th 
of September, 1380, at the age of forty-four. 

The extraordinary success of Charles V. in winning back so 
many provinces of his dismembered and desolated empire entitles 
him to rank among the great sovereigns of Fi'ance. His internal 
administrntion was tliat of a despotic prince, sincerely desiring the 



222 CHARLES V. Chap. X. 

welfare of his coimtiy, but seeking it solely in the unchecked ex- 
ercise of his own arbitrary prerogative. Dreading a renewal of 
his early troubles, Charles convoked the States-General only once 
during his reign. He adopted, as a substitute, the practice of 
holding beds of justice — assemblies composed chiefly of the minis- 
ters and officers of state, who were compelled to register whatever 
measures the king thought proper to present to them, these edicts 
acquiring thenceforward all the force of law. The monarch thus 
assumed the power of legislation, and also that of levying taxes; 
usurpations which necessarily effaced every semblance of consti- 
tutional liberty. It must be mentioned, however, to the honor 
of Charles, that he never resorted to the habit of adulterating the 
coin of the realm, so common among his predecessors. His finan- 
cial system was conducted upon fixed and wise principles, every 
branch of the public expenditure being under the jurisdiction of 
the "court of aides," a tribunal created for the purpose, which 
lasted down to the Revolution of 1789. 

This prince gave great encouragement to the arts, especially to 
architecture. He built the vast and imposing Hotel St. Pol, at 
Paris, which became his favorite residence, and adorned the neigh- 
borhood of the capital with several royal chateaux. He also laid 
the foundations of the ill-omened fortress of the Bastile.* His 
acquaintance with literature was considerable, and he was an en- 
lightened and generous patron of men of letters. The royal libra- 
ry of Paris may be said to owe its origin to Charles V. It con- 
sisted at his death of something more than nine hundred volumes 
• — an extensive and valuable collection for that age. 

* Commenced 1369, terminated 1383. 




Chateau de (Jliinon— place of meeting between Charles VII. and the Maid of Orleans 
(see p. 247). 



CHAPTER XI. 

SECOND PERIOD OF THE -WARS WITH ENGLAND. CHARLES VI. AND 
CHARLES VII. A.D. 1380-14G1. 

§ 1. Accession of Charles VI. ; Contentions for the Regency; Tumults in 
Paris. § 2. Philip, Duke of Burgundy ; Defeat of the Flemish at Rose- 
becque. § 3. Preparations against the English. § 4. Charles assumes 
the Government. § 5. His Illness and Insanity; Duke of Burgundy at the 
Head of Affairs. § 6. Animosity between the Houses of Burgundy and 
Orleans ; Peace concluded with England ; Deposition of the Pope Bene- 
dict XIII. § 7. Death of Philip, Duke of Burgundy; War between John, 
Duke of Burgundy, and the Duke of Orleans; their pretended Reconcil- 
iation; Miu-der of the Duke of Orleans. § 8. Duke of Burgundy at the 
Head of Affairs. § 9. Count d'Armagnac becomes the Head of the Or- 
leanist Party. § 10. Civil War. § II. Henry V. invades France ; Bat- 
tle of Agincourt. § 12. Coalition of the Queen and the Duke of Burgun- 
dy ; Massacre of the Armagnacs. § 13. Murder of John, Duke of Bur- 
gundy, at Montereau. § 1 4. Treaty of Troves ; Marriage of Henry V. 
with the Princess Catharine ; Death of Henry V. and of Charles VI. 
§ 15. Regency of the Duke of Bedford ; Accession of Charles VII. § 16. 
Jacqueline, Countess of Holland ; the Constable do Richemont. § 17. 
Siege of Orleans ; " Journee des Harengs." § 18. Jeanne Dare, the Maid 
of Orleans ; her Success at Orleans. § 19. Charles VII. crowned at Reims ; 
Conspiracy against Jeanne Dare ; her Capture. § 20. Trial, Condemna- 
tion, and Execution of Jeanne Dare. § 21. Reverses of the English in 
France ; Treaty of Arras ; Reconciliation of Charles VII. and the Duke 
of Burgundy. § 22. The "]^corcheurs;" States-General at Orleans; 



224 CHARLES VI. Chap. XI. 

Creation of Standing Army. § 23. The "Praguerie;" wise and success- 
ful Policy of Charles VII. § 24. Organization of the Army. § 25. The 
English driven from Normandy and Gascony. § 26. Factious Behavior 
of the Dauphin ; last Illness and Death of Charles VII. 

§ 1. Charles VI., surnamed "le Bien-aime" or "Well-beloved," 
1380-1422. — The troubled reign of Charles VI. opened with a 
sharp contention between four princes of the blood, his uncles, for 
the regency of the kingdom. The young king was not yet twelve 
years old, and his majority had been fixed, by a recent ordinance 
of his father, at the age of fourteen. The royal dukes, or "Sires 
des Fleurs-de-lys," as they were called, at length agreed to a com- 
promise ; the Duke of Anjou was declared regent, while the cus- 
tody of the royal person and the direction of the household were 
intrusted to the Dukes of Burgundy and Bourbon ; the Duke of 
Berry was appointed governor of Languedoc and Aquitaine ; the 
sword of Constable was delivered, according to the dying injunc- 
tion of Charles V., to Olivier de Clisson. 

These arrangements were scarcely completed when a violent 
popular commotion broke out at Paris. The Duke of Anjou, a 
man of notorious and rapacious avarice, had seized the whole of 
the vast treasure amassed by the late king, as well as the contents 
of the public exchequer ; notwithstanding which he withheld the 
pay due to the troops, upon the pretense that the taxes could not 
be obtained from the people. The discontented soldiers flocked in 
crowds to Paris, where they committed every kind of excess ; the 
angry populace rose against them, and furious broils took place. 
Soon the excitement turned against the regent, and the citizens, 
headed by the prevot des marchands, proceeded tumultuously to 
tlie palace, and demanded the abolition of the gabelle, the tax on 
sales, and other obnoxious imposts. The terrified duke dared not 
resist; he promised immediate satisfaction; and on the 16th of 
November an edict was published by wliich all the extraordinary 
taxes and duties, of whatever description, levied since the reign of 
Philip the Fair, were absolutely suppressed, and all popular rights 
and liberties anterior to tliat reign were declared to he uncondi- 
tionally re-established. It was evident that such sweeping con- 
cessions could neither be sincere nor lasting. No less than seven 
fruitless attempts to obtain supplies Avere made in the course of 
the year 1381 ; and as the irritation rapidly spread throughout the 
country, civil strife became every day more imminent. A bloody 
riot took place at Eouen, in consequence of the proposal of a new 
duty upon cloth; the burghers rushed to arms, and, having pro- 
claimed a wealthy clothier King of Rouen, insisted on his issuing 
an edict repealing the tax, and holding up the officers of the rev- 
enue to public execration. Tho unfortunate collectors were plun- 



A.D. 1382-1384. ANTI-TAX TUMULTS IN PARIS. 225 

dered, insulted, and violently driven from the city ; an attack was 
next made upon the castle, in which the governor was killed ; the 
clergy were also assaulted and maltreated. In February, 1382, 
the young king and his uncles, at the head of an armed body of 
nobles, proceeded to Rouen, and, the gates being opened to them 
without resistance, unsparing vengeance was wreaked upon the in- 
surgent citizens. The chief authors of the revolt were executed, 
and the duty upon cloth was levied by threats and force. 

Emboldened by this success, the court attempted to enforce at 
Paris an excise-duty upon produce exposed for sale in the mar- 
kets. The step was energetically resisted ; the popular wrath 
exploded at once, and the capital was in full insurrection. The 
multitude burst into the Hotel de Yille, and armed themselves 
with a quantity of leaden maces (maillets) and other weapons 
which were there in store : with these they attacked and murder- 
ed all the agents of the government upon whom they could lay 
hands, and afterward, breaking open the prison of the Chatelet, 
released all who were confined there, whether for debt or other 
crimes. The Maillotins, as they were called, not finding an effi- , 
cient leader, dispersed, on an assurance from the court that the 
obnoxious tax should be abandoned, and an amnesty was pro- 
claimed ; but no sooner had the ferment subsided than arrests 
were made in every part of Paris, and the wretched prisoners, 
Avithout any public condemnation, were dispatched by a secret 
and odious mode of execution — they were inclosed in sacks, and 
thrown at dead of night into the Seine. The States-General were 
now assembled at Compiegne ; but the deputies proved refracto- 
ry, and flatly refused to sanction even the smallest subsidy. Full 
of suspicion and disaffection, the Parisians closed their gates, bar- 
ricaded the streets, and denied the king entrance to his capital. 
At length an accommodation Avas effected through the skillful 
management of the advocate-general, Jean Desmarets ; and, in 
consideration of 100,000 francs paid to the insatiable Duke of 
Anjou, it was agreed that no farther proceedings should be taken 
on account of the late insurrection. Peace was thus restored, and 
in May, 1382, the king, attended by his uncles, re-entered Paris. 

§ 2. Immediately after this pacification Louis of Anjou, who 
had been adopted by his cousin Joanna, queen of Naples, as suc- 
cessor to her throne, quitted Paris, and proceeded, Avith a brilliant 
train and an army of thirty thousand men, toAA'ard his ncAv do- 
minions. In Italy he was vigorously opposed by his competitor 
Charles of Durazzo, heir of a collateral branch of the house of 
Anjou ; and after obtaining some successes the duke died sudden- 
ly in 1384. 

The chief direction of affairs in France noAV devolved upon 

K2 



22G CHARLES VI. Chap. XL 

Philip, duke of Burgundy, the ablest of the three royal brothers; 
and his first exercise of power was to engage in the civil contest 
which had been waged for two years past in Flanders. The duke 
had married the heiress of that great province, and was naturally 
interested in quelling this dangerous sedition, which threatened to 
end in revolution. Count Louis of Flanders was at this time be- 
sieging the revolted city of Ghent ; the burghers, headed by the 
famous Philip van Artevelde, attacked and totally defeated him 
at Beverhout, and the count, flying in disguise to Bruges, seemed 
on the point of being dispossessed of his dominions. He implored 
his son-in-law the Duke of Burgundy to march to his relief; the 
duke proposed the expedition to the young king ; and Charles, joy- 
ously welcoming the opportunity of making his first essay in arms, 
hurried on the military pi'cparations, and entered Flanders at the 
head of his forces in November, 1382. The real commander of 
the royal army was the Constable Olivier de Clisson. Philip van 
Artevelde mai'ched against them with fifty thousand Flemings, 
and a terrible battle was fought on the 28th of November at the 
village of Koosebeke or liosebecque, in which the French were 
completely victorious. The struggle lasted only half an houi-, but 
in that brief space the carnage was immense ; twenty-five thou- 
sand Flemingsjjerished in the field ; Artevelde himself was among 
the slain, surrounded by the whole division foi^med by the citizens 
of Ghent, eight thousand strong, which was cut off to a man. 

The victory of Kosebecque was in reality a triumph of royal 
and feudal power over the cause of popular liberty, and its conse- 
quences were not less sensibly felt at Paris than in Flanders. 
Charles re-entered France with purposes of mei'ciless severity 
against his rebellious capital. The gates, chains, and bai'ricades 
were thrown down at his approach, and the burgesses were re- 
quired to surrender their arms ; the Constable and his officers then 
occupied all the military posts, and the bloody work of the execu- 
tioner began. No less than three hundred of the principal inhab- 
itants died upon the scafibld ; among them Nicholas le Flamand, 
formerly a distinguished partisan of Etienne Marcel, and the Ad- 
vocate General Jean Desmarets, a long-tried, able, and faithful 
servant of the crown. At the same time, the municipal liberties 
of the city were summarily withdrawn, its magistrates were re- 
placed by officers named by the prevot royal, and the detested ga- 
belle, the duty on the sale of wine and other commodities, and the 
rest of the lately abolished taxes, were reimposed in all their force. 
After this exhibition of unmeasured tyranny the king consented, 
at the intercession of his uncles, to extend his royal pardon to his 
terror-stricken subjects upon payment of the exorbitant fine of 
900,000 francs. Similar scenes were enacted at Reims, Troyes, 
Chalons, Oi'leans, and throughout the north of France. 



A.D. 138-2-138G. PREPARATIONS AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 227 

Thus was democracy once more crushed in France beneath the 
iron heel of despotism. The people, destitute of intelligent lead- 
ers, wavered and succumbed in the moment of danger, and became 
forthwith the prey of an implacable court and a rapacious and 
brutal aristocracy. The degradation and misery in which the low- 
er classes were now plunged bore their natural fruit in the savage 
and calamitous civil wars of the latter part of this distracted reign. 

§ 3. Louis, count of Flanders, expired in January, 1384. His 
only daughter Marguei'ite was married to Philip the Bold, duke 
of 13urgundy, who now succeeded to the ample possessions of that 
house, including Flanders, Artois, the counties of Rhetel and Nev- 
ers, and other territories in Champagne. To these were soon add- 
ed the duchy of Brabant ; and, with the great fief of Burgundy, the 
duke thus owned an extent of dominion which made him one of 
the most powerful of European sovereigns. The new count forth- 
with concluded a pacification with the people of Ghent, and was 
recognized throughout the province. 

Having married his eldest son to the daughter of Duke Albert 
of Bavaria, the Duke of Burgundy was induced to propose to his 
royal nephew an alliance with another princess of the same family, 
Isabella, daughter of Duke Stephen of Bavaria. Isabella was 
brought to France upon pretense of a pilgrimage tto Amiens in 
the summer of 1385 ; here she was presented to the young king, 
who was greatly struck by her attractions. The marriage was 
celebrated in the Cathedral of Amiens on the 17tli of July, only 
four days after their first interview. Charles V. had expressed a 
desire that his son should connect himself by marriage Avith Ger- 
many, in order to secure for France a valuable ally against the 
English. Little did he foresee the train of disaster and calamity 
which would be entailed on his kingdom by means of this ill-starred 
union. 

In the following year, 1386, preparations were made on a gi- 
gantic scale for the invasion of England. Ships were equipped, 
forming an almost endless flotilla, in all the sea-ports from Cadiz 
to the shores of Prussia : Froissart states that near fourteen hund- 
red vessels were now assembled in the harbor of Sluys in the 
month of September. A prodigious land-force was collected at 
the same place ; every thing announced an expedition destined ut- 
terly to overwhelm the hated English, and reduce the island to a 
state of vassalage to France. But, by a strange series of fatalities, 
this mighty movement passed away without result. The king 
loitered on his journey, and did not join his army till the close of 
September ; the Constable de Clisson, sailing from Brittany, was 
driven by a tempest upon the coast of England, and, having lost 
many of his ships, at last reached Sluys with difficulty, deeply 



228 



CHARLES VI. 



CilAl'. Xi". 




Isabella of Bavaria, wife of Cbiu'les VI. 

mortified by his disaster ; the Duke of Berry, who from the be- 
ginning had shown a disinclination to the project, purposely de- 
layed his arrival at the rendezvous until the season was so far ad- 
vanced as to render it unwise to put to sea. The scheme was 
abandoned for this year; and the soldiers, dismissed without pay- 
ment, harassed and pillaged the whole country on their road home- 
ward. The English, watching their opportunity, now bore down 
upon the Flemish coast, attacked the French fleet, burned and 
captured a groat part of it, and set sail for their own shores laden 
with a rich spoil. 

Tiie descent upon England was again agitated in the spring of 
1387, but was frustrated by the personal enmity of the Duke of 
iJrittany and the Constable. When the armament was on the 
point of sailing, the duke treacherously decoyed De Clisson into 
one of his castles near Vannes, from which he Avas liberated only 
at the price of an extortionate ransom. The Constable hastened 
to make his comiilnint to the king, and the duke was compelled 



A.D. 1388. CHARLES ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT. 229 

eventually to give ample satisfaction ; but tins second miscarriage 
caused the design upon England to be finally laid aside. 

The year 1388 was wasted in an ill-planned and unsuccessful 
expedition against the Duke of Gueldres, who had sent Charles 
an insolent defiance. The king forced his vassal to make a verbal 
submission, but the French army suffered severely in returning 
liome, and regained Champagne in a state of miserable disorder 
and distress. 

§ 4. The Avhole blame of this disgraceful failure, as well as of 
other public misfortunes, was popularly attributed to' the malad- 
ministration of the royal dukes ; and Charles had no sooner enter- 
ed Eeims than he found himself besieged by entreaties that they 
might be dismissed from power. The cardinal-bishop of Laon 
urged at the council-board that the king, who had now attained 
iiis one-and-twenlieth year, ought to take into his own hands the 
reins of government, independently of all control. Charles acted 
on this advice ; and having graciously thanked his micles of Bur- 
gundy and Berry for their care of his person, and their laborious 
services to the state, intimated that henceforth he should not re- 
quire their aid in the direction of affairs. The princes did not 
venture to resist, and immediately withdrew from court, leaving, 
however, behind them a terrible example of the revenge of disap- 
pointed ambition. The Bishop of Laon, the same day on which 
they quitted Reims, was found dead, with manifest marks of hav- 
ing been carried off by poison. 

The chief offices of government were now bestowed on several 
able ministers of the preceding reign — the Constable de Clisson, 
Bureau de la Riviere, Jean de Nogent, Arnaud de Corbie. They 
pursued a very different policy; many useful and important re- 
forms were published, oppressive taxes were reduced and repealed, 
and a truce was concluded with England for three years. The 
king, however, displayed no taste or capacity for affairs of state. 
He became more and more absorbed in frivolous amusements, os- 
tentatious festivities, and sensual pleasures. Three years passed 
in comparative tranquillity, during which the king's uncles re- 
mained entirely excluded from power. They lost no opportunity 
of ridiculing and vilifying the ministers, whom they styled the viar- 
■mousets or monkeys ; and at length, wearied and exasperated, they 
leagued with the Duke of Brittany, the avowed and inveterate 
enemy of De Clisson, for the purpose of effecting the disgrace of 
the Constable and their own reinstatement in authority. 

It so happened that a young relation of the Duke of Brittany, 
Pierre de Craon, had been lately banished from court for his in- 
discretion in revealing to the young Duchess of Orleans, Valentine 
Visconti, an intrigue carried on by her husband, the king's brother. 



230 CHARLES VI. CiiAr. X. 

This nobleman now willingly listened to proposals of revenge upon 
De Clisson, whom he regarded as the author of his dismissal ; and 
one night in June, 1392, he waylaid the Constable with a band of 
bravos, on his return from an entertainment at the palace, and, 
assaulting him furiously, left him for dead in the street. The 
wounded man, however, had fallen against the door of a baker's 
shop, Avhich was hastily opened from within by the owner, and the 
assassins were thus unable to dispatch their victim. De Craon 
escaped to the court of his confederate the Duke of Brittany. 

The king' was irritated beyond measure by this daring outrage 
upon one of the highest functionaries of the state, and swore that 
it should be signally avenged. The Duke of Brittany was re- 
quired to ai-rest the traitor Pierre de Craon, and send him forth- 
with to Paris. The duke had the impudence to reply that he 
knew nothing either of the oifender or of his offense, and therefore 
begged to be held excused from obeying the royal command. Still 
more indignant at this monstrous falsehood, Charles gave orders 
for assembling an army, and, although at the time in an enfeebled 
state of health, set out from Paris, accompanied by liis brother the 
Duke of Orleans, the Duke of Bourbon, and his chief nobles and 
counselors, and took the road to Brittany. 

§ 5. The king was detained three weeks by illness at Le Mans. 
On the 5th of August he mounted his horse, contrary to the ad- 
vice of his physicians, and proceeded through the forest of Le 
Mans, in the direction of Angers. The day was intensely sultry, 
and the king, already weakened by disease, suffered much from the 
scorching rays of an almost vertical sun. Suddenly a man of wild 
and ferocious aspect, bare-headed and bare-legged, started from be- 
hind a tree, seized the king's bridle, and exclaimed, in a terrible 
voice, " Ride on no farther, oh king ! return ; thou art betrayed !" 
The attendants came up and drove off the intruder, but he contin- 
ued to follow Charles at some distance, shouting with redoubled 
energy and fury, "Thou art betrayed, thou art betrayed!" The 
king, astounded and bewildered, nevertheless pursued his route. 
Soon afterward one of his pages, who had fallen asleep in his sad- 
dle, dropped his lance, which struck upon the steel helmet of his 
companion. Startled by the sound, which seemed to his morbid 
fancy to confirm the threatening warning he had just heard, the 
unhappy Charles now lost all self-control, drew his sword, attack- 
ed the pages, whom he no longer recognized, and, after severely 
wounding several persons of his escort, spurred his horse against 
the Duke of Orleans. The duke fled in terror ; and the Duke of 
]^urgundy, perceiving that the king was bereft of his senses, or- 
dered him to be secured, which, when the paroxysm had exhaust- 
ed his strength, was at length effected. Charles was disarmed, 
and carried back to Le Mans in a state of unconscious lotharcv. 



A.D. 1388-139G. KING'S ILLNESS AND INSANITY. 231 

The physicians were at first of opinion that the king's seizure 
was mortal and his end approaching ; but a favorable change took 
place on the third day. Charles recovered his senses, and to a 
certain extent the use of his reason, but never so as to be capable 
of sustained effort or close application. For the rest of his life 
his condition was one of chronic imbecility, varied by occasional 
fits of passionate frenzy, and sometimes, but more rarely, by lucid 
rational intervals. 

This calamity naturally caused an immediate change of political 
administi'ation. The Duke of Burgundy was replaced at the head 
of affairs ; the Duke of Oiieans, who alone could have contested 
the post, being set aside for want of age and experience. Two of • 
the late ministers were thrown into the Bastile. Olivier de Clis- 
son was tried before the Parliament for malversation and embez- 
zlement, condemned to a severe fine, deprived of his office as Con- 
stable, and exiled into Brittany. 

§ 6. The king's health, which had continued gradually to im- 
prove, suffered a serious relapse in January, 1393. On the occa- 
sion of the marriage of one of the ladies of the queen's household 
a grand masked ball was given at court, in which Charles, with 
five of his nobles, disguised themselves as savages, in close-fitting 
dresses covered with pitch and tow to resemble hair. The young 
Duke of Orleans, excited no doubt by wine, approached these gro- 
tesque figures with a lighted torch, and, either accidentally or from 
wanton love of mischief, set their combustible costume in a blaze. 
The king was fortunately standing apart, and the Duchess of Berry 
hurried him out of the hall. Four of the unlucky maskers were 
burnt to death ; one saved his life by throwing himself into a large 
tub of water which happened to be at hand. 

The shock occasioned by this accident produced a violent return 
of the king's malady. The royal sufferer totally lost his memory 
and all consciousness of his position. He conceived a strong 
aversion against the queen ; he ceased to recognize his children ; 
and the only person Avho retained any influence or control over 
him was his sister-in-law, the Duchess of Orleans. That princess 
was distinguished by her amiable temper, and the charm of her 
graceful manners ; these exercised their natural ascendency over 
the diseased mind of Charles ; but the jealousy of the rival fac- 
tion, and the narrow superstition of the times, ascribed the result 
to sorcery and magic, and the Duke of Burgundy took advantage 
of the popular clamor to banish the accomplished Valentine from 
court. This step greatly inflamed the growing animosity between 
the houses of Burgundy and Orleans. 

During a temporary restoration to reason Charles concluded, in 
1396, a definite treaty of peace Avitli England. Richard II. de- 



232 CHARLES VI. Chap. XI. 

manded the hand of the Princess Isabella, a child scarcely more 
than seven years old, and the espousals were celebrated at an in- 
terview which took place between the two monarchs near Calais. 
The term of this pacification was fixed at twenty-eight years ; it 
lasted, in reality, little more than six. 

About the same time Charles made a laudable attempt to heal 
the scandalous schism which for near twenty years had afflicted 
tlie Church. A council was held at the Hotel Saint Pol, which 
pronounced, in accordance with the decision of the University of 
Paris, that the peace of the Church Avould be best secured by the 
resignation of both the rival popes, Boniface IX. and Benedict 
XIII. A splendid embassy, composed of the three royal Dukes of 
Orleans, Berry, and Burgundy, with several prelates, doctors, and 
officers of state, now proceeded to Avignon to notify to Benedict 
XIII. — the stern and inflexible Pedro de Luna — the determina- 
tion of the council. Benedict entertained them at first with fair 
promises, which were soon exchanged for excuses and evasions, 
and at last he plainly announced to the commissioners his refusal 
to resign. Two years later a second council of the French Church 
met at Paris, when it was resolved to withdraw the kingdom from 
the obedience of Benedict ; and as he still refused to submit, and 
asserted his exclusive claims in the most resolute terms, a military 
force was sent to Avignon under Marshal Boucicaut, which block- 
aded the Pope in his own palace. He remained there a close 
prisoner for upward of four years. 

§ 7. The opening of the fifteenth century found France pros- 
trate under a complication of evils which threatened to destroy all 
settled government and to sap the very foundations of society. 
Notwithstanding the king's incapacity, no regency had been legal- 
ly appointed ; and the struggles of the rival factions — those of the 
queen, the Duke of Burgundy, and the Duke of Orleans — engen- 
dered general anai'chy and confusion. The Duke of Orleans dis- 
played, as he grew up to manhood, a turbulent, reckless, and dis- 
solute character ; and fresh grounds of discord continually arose 
to aggravate his feud with the Duke of Burgundy, which became 
mortal and irreconcilable. During the absence of his antagonist 
in Flanders the Duke of Orleans came to Paris surrounded by a 
numerous body of knights and armed retainers, who took up their 
quarters round his hotel. The Duke of Burgundy soon arrived 
at the head of an equally threatening force. The capital was in 
consternation. Every moment a collision was expected, which 
might usher in a desolating civil war. After a lengthened sus- 
pense, the two princes were induced, by the earnest intercession 
of the queen, to consent to a formal reconciliation in January, 
1402; but no sooner had the Duke of Burgundy quitted Paris 



A.D. 1393-1405. RIVALRY OF ORLEANS AND BURGUNDY. 233 

than the Duke of Orleans, profiting by one of the king's intervals 
of reason, procured an edict by Avhich he was placed at the head 
of the financial administration, and for two months the whole 
power of the state was in his hands. The return of the Duke of 
Burgundy at once re-established his authority; but within two 
years he Avas suddenly attacked by a contagious disease at Brus- 
sels, and, having been conveyed to his chateau of Halle in Hai- 
nault, expired there in April, 1404, in the seventy-third year of 
his age. Philip of Burgundy possessed many admirable qualities, 
and his loss was deeply and _generally lamented. His great fault 
was a boundless prodigality. His pompous and extravagant lux- 
ury caused him continual embarrassment, and he died overwhelm- 
ed with debt. 

The administration of aflPairs was now once more seized by Louis 
of Orleans. He made a coalition with the queen and her party, 
and this union of interests gave them a decided preponderance in 
the state. But an opponent* quickly appeared who was destined 
to bring to a fatal crisis the deadly enmity which had so long 
reigned between the rival houses ; this Avas John, surnamed sans 
Feur, Avho had just succeeded his father as Duke of Burgundy. 
Inheriting all the ambition and courage of Philip le Hardi, Jean 
sans Peur Avas possessed of an unscrupulous audacity, which hesi- 
tated at no act of violence, cruelty, or revenge ; and, apart from 
other grievances, he had sustained at the hands of the libertine 
Duke of Orleans a private injury which Avas not likely to be for- 
giA^en. Their quarrel burst forth at the beginning of 1405, on the 
occasion of a ncAV tax or subsidy levied by the Duke of Orleans. 
The Duke of Burgundy declared that, whether authorized or not 
by the rest of the council, he Avould take care that the impost 
should be paid by none of his own subjects, and abruptly quitted 
Paris. This conduct procured him credit with the loAver classes, 
Avho regarded him henceforth as their protector and champion. 
The misgovernment of the party in poAver became in the course 
of a fcAV months so notorious and insupportable, that the duke re- 
ceived an urgent summons from the king to return and resume his 
place in the council. Pie marched to Paris escorted by eight hund- 
red lances, and learned on his arrival thei-e that the queen and the 
Duke of Orleans had taken flight to Melun, leaving orders that the 
dauphin, a child of nine years old, should follow them. Jean sans 
Peur possessed himself of the person of the young prince, and, en- 
tering Paris, took up his residence at the Louvre, thus remaining 
undisputed master of the capital. Upon an appeal to an assembly 
of notables, the duke's acts Avere fully ratified ; and he was placed, 
by unanimous consent, at the head of the government. His first 
care A\''as to put Paris in a state of defense, by repairing the city 



234 CIIAKLES VI. Chap. XI. 

gates and suspending lieavy chains across the streets. Many of the 
civic privileges were restored ; and the burghers were encouraged 
to arm, hostilities being now deemed inevitable. 

The Duke of Orleans assembled his troops, crossed the Seine, 
and took post at Charenton. The Duke of Burgundy arrayed his 
forces at Argenteuil. The Orleanist banner bore the device of a 
knotted club, with the motto "Je I'envie ;" the Burgundian em- 
blem was a carpenter's plane, with the legend " Je le tiens." The 
leaders, however, shrunk at the last moment from the desperate is- 
sue of a battle. The Duke of Berry interposed, and after eight 
days of negotiation an arrangement was effected at Vincennes ; 
the two dukes agreed to dismiss their hired bands, and to divide 
the government between them. The queen now made her entry 
into Paris with great pomp, surrounded by the princes and a bril- 
liant court. The rival dukes gave every outward token of re- 
stored confidence and amity, even sharing the same couch at night ; 
but the extreme care which each bestowed in fortifying his hotel, 
and guarding against surprise, betrayed the deep distrust conceal- 
ed beneath the mask of reconciliation. 

Events were hastening to a catastrophe. It was evident that 
the contest had long passed the bounds of possible adjustment, and 
that one or other of the combatants must finally succumb. Their 
disputes at the council-board became every day more fierce and 
rancorous ; but an illness of the Duke of Orleans in the course of 
the autumn occasioned once more a renewal of amicable profes- 
sions. On the 20tli of November, 1407, the two cousins heard 
mass and partook of the holy saci'ament together at the church of 
the Augustins. Never was there a blacker instance of sacrilegious 
hypocrisy. At the very moment when he thus profaned the most 
solemn rite of Christianity, Jean sans Peur had deliberately doom- 
ed his enemy to a bloody and violent death. 

The Duke of Orleans went every evening to visit the queen, 
then recovering from her confinement. On the 23d of November 
a false message was sent to him at the queen's residence, requiring 
his immediate attendance on the king at the Hotel Saint Pol. 
The duke set out, followed by two servants; and, when near the 
Porte Barbette, was suddenly attacked by a band of assassins, 
whose leader, shouting "a raort, a mort !" struck him so furiously 
with an axe that one of his hands was severed at the wrist. A 
second blow laid open his skull and dashed him to the ground, 
where the rufiians soon dispatched him with horrible mutilation. 

§ 8. The authorship of this portentous crime remained for a 
short time doubtful. The Duke of Burgundy appeared not less 
profoundly shocked than others. He attended the funeral of his 
victim, and even held the pall in company with the other princes. 



A.D. 1405-1408. MURDER OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS. 235 

Blood is said to have flowed from the coi'pse on his approach. 
Suspicion fell at first upon a gentleman of the deceased duke's 
household, whose wife he had corrupted ; but justice soon discov- 
ered the right track, and the provost of Paris announced to tlie 
council that he had no doubt of being able to arrest the murdei-- 
ers, provided he were authorized to search the Hotel d'Artois, the 
residence of the Duke of Burgundy. The conscience-stricken duke 
changed color and became much agitated. On being questioned 
by the King of Sicily, he plainly avowed that, yielding to the in- 
stigation of the Evil One, he had caused the deed to be committed. 
Recovering, however, his natui'al audacity, he presented himself 
the next day at the council-chamber ; but the Duke of Berry reso- 
lutely opposed his entrance. Jean sans Feur instantly took horse, 
and, in spite of a brisk pursuit, gained the frontier fortress of Ba- 
paume, whence he continued his flight to Lille. 

It is a painful illustration both of the character of the Duke of 
Orleans and of the depraved morals of the age, that this atrocious 
murder not only roused no popular indignation, but was generally 
applauded and even justified. After some futile demonstrations, 
the assassins were allowed to go unpunished. The widowed 
Duchess Valentine came, with her children, to throw herself at 
the feet of Charles, and demand vengeance for her husband's blood ; 
but the monarch could do no more than assure her of his sympa- 
thy, and repeat vain promises of satisfaction. The Duke of Bur- 
gundy soon reappeared at Paris, escorted by eight hundi'ed gentle- 
men and a considerable armed force, and reached his hotel amid 
the acclamations and congratulations of the people. The next 
day, March 8, 1408, at a great assembly of princes, nobles, clergy, 
and burgesses, held at the Hotel Saint Pol, Jean Petit, a Francis- 
can monk and celebrated doctor of the Sorbonne, appeared as the 
duke's advocate, and offered an elaborate vindication of his con- 
duct. The orator maintained, wkh much pedantic display of logic 
and learning, that the Duke of Orleans was a tyrant, a traitor, 
and a heretic ; that on all these grounds he deserved death ; and 
that, whether as regarded God, the king, or the nation, it was not 
only a lawful, but a laudable deed to rid the Avorld of such a vile 
offender. The assembly listened in silence. No one ventured to 
gainsay this extraordinary line of defense. The duke became a 
second time dictator ; and his first act was to force the unhappy 
Charles to issue a public declaration that he retained no displeas- 
ure against his dear cousin of Burgundy for having caused the as- 
sassination of his brother. 

Shortly afterAvard Jean sans Peur was summoned to the Low 
Countries to suppress a sudden revolt of the people of Liege ; and 
his opponents at Paris profited by his absence to attempt a reac- 



236 CHARLES VI. Chap. XL 

tion. The queen, who had retired with the dauphin to Melun, 
entered the capital on the 26th of August, attended by the Dukes 
of Berry, Bourbon, and Brittany, with three thousand men-at- 
arms. In an assembly held by the dauphin, the Abbe de Serisy 
pronounced a solemn refutation of the discourse of Jean Petit ; 
and the Duchess of Orleans was assured that the Parliament 
would execute speedy and ample justice in her behalf. The 
duke's letters of pardon were revoked, and he was summoned to 
appear and make answer before the Parliament to all charges 
brought against him. 

But meanwhile the duke was victor in the sanguinary battle of 
Hasbain (Sept. 23, 1408), and his enemies, on the first tidings of 
this decisive success, renounced all thoughts of prosecuting their 
designs of vengeance. In November he returned triumphantly to 
Paris, and found that the adverse party had fled on his appi'oach. 
The queen and the princes, carrying with them the imbecile king 
and the dauphin, had retired to Tours. Valentine of Orleans fell 
ill at Blois, and died there within a few Aveeks of disappointment 
and a broken heart. 

§ 9. The parties now found it mutually advisable to negotiate ; 
and at an interview held in the Cathedral of Chartres in March, 
1409, the Duke of Burgundy received from Charles a full pardon 
for the bloody deed which had been committed, as he maintained, 
"for the welfare of the king and the kingdom;" after which the 
young princes of Orleans were constrained to go through the farce 
of reconciliation with their father's murderer. 

This transaction, aptly designated " la paix fourree" (hasty or 
patched-up peace), caused general demonstrations of joy ; but no 
one believed that the dissensions of the state were eifectually heal- 
ed. The immediate I'esult was to throw the government still more 
absolutely into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy. The duke 
had also the addi'ess to conclude^a secret alliance with the sensual 
and despicable Queen Isabella, and by this means secured the 
guardianship and dii'ection of the young dauphin, as well as com- 
plete power over the person of the king. The opposite party were 
not behindhand in taking measures of self-defense. In 1410 a 
league was organized at Gien betA\'een the young Dukes Charles 
of Orleans and his brother, the Dukes of Bei'ry, Bourbon, and Brit- 
tany, the Count Bernard d'Armagnac, and the Constable d'Albret, 
with the avowed object of overthrowing the Duke of Burgundy ; 
and from this time must be dated the undisguised outbreak of 
civil war. The Count d'Armagnac, a distinguished nobleman of 
Languedoc, whose daughter had just been married to the Duke 
of Orleans, became the acknowledged chief of the new confederacy; 
and the partisans of the liouse of Orleans Avere hcncefortli known. 



A.D. 1408-1412. TEMPORARY DEFEAT OF THE ARMAGNACS. 237 

by his name. He was a man of eminent ability, brilliant courage, 
and mature experience, in every way qualified for such a post. 
He collected a large force in Gascony, where he enjoyed vast in- 
fluence ; auxiliary bands were raised in Poitou, Auvergne, Tou- 
raine, and Brittany ; and the army of the Armagnacs marched to- 
ward Paris. No engagement, however, took place this year. The 
Armagnacs cruelly ravaged the whole country up to the gates of 
Paris ; but the Duke of Burgundy, though his force was superior, 
hesitated to attack them, and a second illusory treaty was made 
in November, 1410, at the chateava of Bicetre. Next year hostil- 
ities were renewed. The allied princes sent a violent letter of de- 
fiance to the Duke of Burgundy, and took the road to the capital, 
resolved to strike a vigorous blow for its possession. Meanwhile 
the Parisians had risen in terror, and organized for their defense 
a sort of civic guard called the milice royale, composed of the very 
dregs of the populace, and commanded by the butcher Legoix, a 
surgeon named Jean de Troyes, the skinner Caboche, and the exe- 
cutioner Capeluche.* The Cabochiens (so they were styled) were 
soon masters of Paris, and their reign was marked by the most 
hideous atrocities. Every one who chanced to offend them was 
stigmatized as an Armagnac, and plundered, persecuted, and mur- 
dered without remorse. The army of the princes, however, over- 
powered this horde of brigands, and, occupying St. Denis and St. 
Cloud, poured into the city, which became a frightful scene of li- 
cense, havoc, and confusion. A royal proclamation now declared 
the princes guilty of high ti'eason, and banished them from the 
kingdom ; but the Duke of Burgundy, at length making his ap- 
pearance before the capital with a strong auxiliary force of En- 
glish lances, successfully attacked the Armagnac position at St. 
Cloud, cut to pieces twelve hundred knights or gentlemen of their 
party, and forced them to retreat precipitately to Orleans. The 
most merciless vengeance followed this triumph of the Burgun- 
dians. The streets of Paris ran in torrents with the blood of the 
Armagnacs. Numbers died in the prisons by torture, starvation, 
or disease ; their property was confiscated ; their corpses were 
abandoned to the dogs and swine in the common ditches and 
sewers. . 

§ 10. The Orleanist party, thus driven to desperation, naturally 
began to turn their eyes and hopes toward England. Negotia- 
tions were entered into with Henry IV., and in May, 1412, it was 
arranged that the princes and their adherents should assist the En- 
glish king to recover all the ancient possessions of his predeces- 

* They were members of the ancient corporation of butchers, which pos- 
sessed at that time great credit and power. The tower St. Jacques la 
Boucherie marks the site of their chief establishment at Paris. 



238 CHARLES VI. Chap. XI. 

sors in the south of France ; in return for which Ilenry engaged 
to place at their disposal a force consisting of a thousand men-at- 
arms, and three thousand bowmen, paid in advance. 

The dispatch containing this ti-eaty Avas intercepted in Nor- 
mandy, and publicly read before the council of state at the Hotel 
Saint Pol. It excited extreme indignation, and the king, just then 
in a somewhat improved state of health, announced his determina- 
tion to march instantly against the rebellious traitors who Avould 
thus sell France to her invetei'ate foes. The war which followed 
was marked by the same scenes of cruelty and bloodshed. *The 
Cabochiens again rose in Pai'is, and perpetrated dreadful crimes. 
At length, in 1414, the dauphin, to the great discontent of the 
other princes, made proposals of accommodation to the Duke of 
Burgundy. His overtures were accepted, and, upon the nominal 
condition of asking the king's pardon, the duke was permitted to 
retain all his possessions. He was prohibited, however, from com- 
ing to Paris without the royal command ; and the Armagnacs 
remained completely masters of the government. 

§ 11. Both parties in the strife had made applications in turn 
to England. Henry V., a young, talented, and ambitious mon- 
arch, could not resist the temptation to renew against France the 
ancient pretensions of his family at this melancholy crisis of her 
fortunes. During the negotiations at Arras, Henry sent embas- 
sadors to assert formally his claim to the French crown, and to 
demand the hand of the Princess Catharine in mai'riage, together 
with the restitution of all the provinces ceded by the treaty of 
Bretigny, and of Normandy in addition. AVar was the alterna- 
tive. Such was the degraded state of France, that the dauphin 
dared not answer this insolent message by a bold defiance ; he of- 
fered Henry the hand of the princess, with a handsome dowry in 
money, and the Avhole of Aquitaine and Limousin ; but this prop- 
osition was peremptorily rejected, and the English king prepared 
to prosecute his claim in arms. 

Landing at the mouth of the Seine on the 14th of August, 1415, 
Henry invested Harfleur, which surrendei-ed after a month's siege. 
But the invader was prevented from following up his success; 
dysentery broke out in the English camp, and Henry, finding his 
forces lamentably reduced, resolved to abandon farther operations 
for this year ; he then directed his march northward through Pon- 
thieu and Picardy, intending to take up winter quarters at Calais. 

The royal army of France Avas composed almost entirely of the 
partisans of the house of Orleans ; the Duke of Burgundy preserv- 
ing, either from spite or by the king's command, a sullen neutrali- 
ty. Constable d'Albret had collected about sixty thousand men, 
commanded, under him, by the Dukes of Orleans, Anjou, Alengon, 



A.D. 1412-1415. BATTLE OF AGINCOURT. 239 

and Bourbon, and the veteran Marshal Boucicaut. It was re- 
solved to intercept the retreat of the English, and give them bat- 
tle on the line of the Somme. For this purpose the Constable 
raai'ched to Abbeville, and gave orders that every point v^here the 
river could be crossed should be strongly occupied. After vainly 
attempting to pass at Blanchetache and at Pont Remy, Henry as- 
cended the Somme, and at length discovered an unguai'ded ford at 
Bethencourt, near Ham; here, on the 19th of October, he trans- 
ferred his whole array to the right bank of the river. Such was 
the want of vigilance among the French, that the Constable re- 
ceived no notice of the passage of the enemy until the difficult 
operation had been safely completed. Nothing remained but to 
select a position for a general engagement ; and the Constable 
again shoAved his incapacity by drawing up his army on a narrow 
plain between the villages of Agincourt and Tramecourt, flanked 
on either side by a thick wood, which prevented him from deploy- 
ing his forces and making full use of his cavalry. The English 
reached the ground on the evening of the 24th of October, and 
spent the night, which was cold and rainy, in devotional exercises. 
On the 25th, after a fruitless endeavor to negotiate, the battle be- 
gan by a tremendous discharge of arrows from the English arch- 
ers, who were protected by a strong palisade of sharp stakes. 
The French knights attempted to charge, but their horses sunk at 
every step above the fetlock in the mire of some newly-plowed 
fields, and not one in ten reached the enemy's lines. They fell 
back in disorder ; the English archers, throwing down their bows, 
rushed forward with their swords, battle-axes, and pikes, and, fall- 
ing upon the confused masses of the French Avith irresistible fury, 
slaughtered them in heaps almost Avithout resistance. The rear 
guard, which had remained unbroken, instead of making a determ- 
ined effort to retrieve the fortunes of the day, shamefully turned 
and fled, leaving the English undisputed masters of the field. 

A false report was made to Henry, in the moment of victory, 
that a fresh division of the enemy had attacked his rear and was 
plundering the baggage. Upon this the king inhumanly ordered 
a general massacre of the prisoners, and vast numbers of lives 
Avere thus sacrificed to a mistake. The disaster of Agincourt 
was even more fatal to the French nobility than those of Cre'cy 
and Poitiers; out of a total loss of ten thousand men, eight thou- 
sand Avere of gentle blood; among them Avere the Dukes of Alen- 
9on and Brabant, and the Constable d'Albret, to Avhose inefficiency 
the defeat Avas chiefly due. Charles of Orleans, the Duke of Bour- 
bon, and Marshal Boucicaut, Avith fifteen hundred otlier knights 
and gentlemen, remained prisoners in the hands of the victors. 
The loss on the side of the English Avas about sixteen hundred 



240 CHARLES VI. Chap. XI. 

men. Henry, however, was in no condition to pursue his victory ; 
he immediately resumed his march to Calais, and on the I7th of 
November landed at Dover with his royal and noble prisoners. 

§ 12. The Count d'Armagnac was now created Constable of 
France, and assumed the direction of affairs. The Dauphin Louis 
died, a victim to his vicious excesses, in December, 1415, and was 
succeeded by his brother John, duke of Touraine., This young 
man was attached to the Burgundian party ; but within little more 
than a year he also breathed his last, so opportunely for the inter- 
ests of the Count d'Armagnac as to excite a general suspicion of 
foul play. The title of dauphin now devolved on the king's youn- 
gest son, Charles, a boy of fourteen, who had been educated among 
the Orleanist faction, and Avas deeply imbued with ail their preju- 
dices and passions. The queen was the only remaining personage 
in the state who might cause embarrassment to the overbearing 
Constable, and he at once resolved on her removal from all oppor- 
tunity of power or influence. In concert with the young dauphin, 
whom he completely governed, Armagnac represented to the king 
the scandalous scenes which disgraced the court of Isabella at Vin- 
cennes ; and by Charles's order, the Sire Boisbourdon, who passed 
for the queen's .paramour, was suddenly arrested, tortured, and 
thrown into the Seine, inclosed in a leathern sack, which bore the 
inscription, " Laissez passer la justice du Roi." Isabella herself 
was exiled to the castle of Tours, where she remained under strict 
surveillance. Her jewels and treasure were seized by the dauphin ; 
and his unnatural mother thenceforth regarded him with a vindic- 
tive hatred which lasted throughout her life. 

The queen and the Duke of Burgundy had hitherto been de- 
clared enemies ; but under present circumstances it was evidently 
their interest to bury their diffei-ences and combine for their mu- 
tual restoration to power. Accordingly, Isabella had not been 
many months in confinement before she found means to communi- 
cate secretly with Jean sans Peur, and the duke, in consequence, 
proceeded with a sufiicient force to Tours, and by a stratagem ef- 
fected the queen's deliverance from captivity. The measures of 
the new allies Avere bold and decisive. The queen declared her- 
self regent of the kingdom ; a council of state was established at 
Amiens in opposition to that of the " usurpers and traitors" who 
ruled at Paris ; and letters were dispatched throughout the prov- 
inces requiring the people to pay no regard to the orders of the 
king and the dauphin, and acknowledge no other government than 
that of the queen and the duke. The struggle thus became more 
desperate than ever ; and although in the course of this year (Au- 
gust, 1417) Henry of England landed a second time in Normandy, 
and captured Caen, Bayeux, and other towns, this foreign iiggrcs- 



A.D. 1415-1418. MASSACRE OF THE ARMAGNACS. 241 

pion seems to have been scarcely noticed amid the deadly fury of 
intestine strife. Another sudden change of scene took place in 
May, 1418. The Constable Armagnac, and his chief supporter 
Tanneguy Duchatel, provost of Paris, had fallen in popularity from 
liaving broken off a promising negotiation for peace. A young 
citizen named Perrinet Leclerc contrived to introduce into the cap- 
ital a strong party of armed Burgundians ; the populace rose and 
joitied them with enthusiastic shouts ; and their commander, hav- 
ing forced the gates of the palace, took possession of the person of 
the helpless king, so as to justify the revolt by the appearance of 
royal authority. Tanneguy Duchatel succeeded in carrying off 
the dauphin to the Bastile, and thence to Melun. A dreadful mas- 
sacre followed in the streets of Paris on the night of the 12th of 
June ; the Constable d' Armagnac, several prelates, and numbers of 
the nobility, were cruelly murdered ; and the mob, breaking open 
the prisons, butchered indiscriminately all that they contained. 
The cut-throat Cabochiens reappeared, and for three days Paris was 
given up to atrocities too revolting to bear recital. The ruffians 
cut strips of flesh from the bleeding bodies of the Armagnacs, in 
brutal derision of the scarf or band which symbolized their party. 
The numbers of the slain were estimated at near three thousand. 

A few weeks afterward the queen and the Duke of Burgundy 
re-entered Paris, and were received with joyous acclamations, but 
they found it impossible to restore order. The massacres were 
renewed ; and although the duke labored to restrain the popular 
fury, and even submitted to shake hands with the butcher Cape- 
luche in order to gain his confidence, Paris still remained in a 
state of lawless insurrection. At last Capeluche arid others of 
the ringleaders were condemned and executed, and some degree of 
tranquillity was restored. 

§ 13. Henry of England, meanwhile, had subdued Lower Nor- 
mandy, and laid siege to Rouen. That ancient capital was de- 
fended with heroic courage for seven months ; a capitulation took 
place in January, 1419, and Henry spared the city in considera- 
tion of a ransom of 300,000 golden crowns. The fall of Rouen 
led to the submission of the whole pi'ovince ; and Henry, Avho had 
received pressing overtures both from the queen's party and from 
the dauphin, now haughtily declined to negotiate, marched to 
Pontoise, and threatened the approaches to Paris. The presence 
of a foreign potentate, as a conqueror, in the very heart of the 
kingdom, brought about a momentary reconciliation between the 
i'actions which distracted France. 

The dauphin and the Duke of Burgundy, at an amicable inter- 
view near Melun, engaged to use their utmost efforts in conjunc- 
tion to expel the foreigner from France. But Tanneguy Duchatel 

I. 



242 



CHARLES VI. 



Chap. XI. 



and other counselors of the dauphin — the survivors of the butch- 
ered Arniagnacs — knew well that no reliance could be placed on 
the professions of their sworn enemy ; and there is little doubt 
that they were already deliberately meditating, with or without 
the cognizance of Charles, a deed of relentless vengeance which 
should rid them forever of his rivalry. The duke was invited to 
a second conference on the bridge of Montereau ;' an inclosure of 
woodwork was formed in the centre of the bridge, into which the 
two princes entered, each with ten attendants. What followed is 
differently related by the two parties, but their discrepancies are of 
no great importance. The duke doffed his plumed cap and bent the 
knee before the dauphin ; as he rose, Tanneguy Duchatel struck 
him violently on the back of the head with a hatchet ; he fell again 
to his knees ; the Vicomte of Narbonne and other followers of 
the dauphin then rushed upon him and dispatched him with their 
swords. All the nobles who accompanied the duke, except one, 
were either slain or taken prisoners. Thus perished, on the 10th of 

iSeptembe-r, 1419, the celebrated Jean 
sans Peur, duke of Burgundy. It was 
a terrible retribution, not only for his 
assassination of the Duke of Orleans 
twelve years before, but for the reck- 
less ambition, tyranny, and cruelty of 
his subsequent government. 

§ 14. The consequences of this 
crime to France were calamitous in- 
dii d. The young Duke Philip of 
jiurgundy, who now succeeded his fa- 
ther, postponing all other considera- 
li )us to his thirst of vengeance on 
the dauphin, threw himself at once 
into the arms of the English. He 
was eagerly supported by the queen, 
who regarded her son as the author 
of all the injuries and indignities she 
had endured, and preferred any thing 
to the chance of again falling into the 
power of the Armagnacs. The pop- 
ulation of Paris, furious at the loss of 
their great patron, pronounced strong- 
ly for the same policy. Negotiations 
riniip the Goo<], duke of Bursnndy, in accordingly commenced at Arras with 

the Kobes of the Golden 1 leece Order. ° "^r. ^ i r. i 

the King of England ; and on the 2d 
of December it was agreed that Henry should espouse the Prin- 
cess Catharine, and should thereupon be forthwith invested with 




A. 0.1419-1422. MAERfAGE OF HENEY V. AND CATHAEIME. 243 

the regency and administration of the kingdom ; and farther, that 
he should be declared heir to the crown of France after the death 
of the present sovereign. In April, 1420, this extraordinary treaty 
was signed by Chai-les VI., under the dictation of the queen and 
the duke, and was immediately afterward accepted and ratified by 
the States-General, the Parliament, and the constituted bodies of 
the capital. In addition to the articles above mentioned, it was 
stipulated that the crowns of France and England should hence- 
forth remain forever united in one and the same person ; and the 
parties to the treaty bound themselves to enter into no engage- 
ment or transaction whatever with Charles, " calling himself Dau- 
phin of Vienne," except by mutual and unanimous consent, and 
with the sanction of the estates of the realm both in France and 
England. These terms being finally settled, the mai-riage of Hen- 
ry V. with the fair Princess Catharine was solemnized with great 
magnificence in the church of St. Jean at Troyes, on the 2d of 
June, 1420. Such were the general terror and disgust excited by 
the civil war and the foul crimes to which it had given birth, that 
the treaty of Troyes seems to have been I'eceived in France with 
lively satisfaction. Few comparatively regarded it in its true 
light, as the most deplorable act of national humiliation to be found 
in the annals of their country. 

The Dauphin Cliarles and his party now retired to the provinces 
beyond the Loire, which were generally favorable to their cause. 
Notwithstanding his personal demerits — for he was indolent, licen- 
tious, without military talent, and branded with the disgrace of a 
heinous crime — Chaiies possessed one immense advantage ; his 
side was that of national independence in opposition to foreign 
dominion. When once the Burgundians had allied themselves 
with the hated English, the prestige of right and justice passed 
evidently to those who fought for the emancipation of France from 
a strange yoke. It was this single fact, rather than any superi- 
ority of valor, energy, or talent, that caused the arms of the pro- 
scribed dauphin eventually to prevail, and replaced him on his 
legitimate throne. 

By an utterly unexpected turn of fortune, the most formidable 
antagonist of the national cause was soon removed by death. 
Henry V. expired at Vincennes on the 31st of August, 1422. 
His son was an infant nine months old ; and the prospect of a 
long and stormy minority could not fail to act favorably to the 
interests of the i-ightful claimant of the crown. While still de- 
bating the measures to be taken, the dauphin received tidings of 
the decease of the king his father, which took place at the Hotel 
St. Pol on the 21st of October. The unhappy Charles VI., though 
for thirty years in a state of hopeless idiotcy, had never ceased to 



24:4 CHARLES VII. • Chap. XI. 

be regarded by the nation with the same feelings of attachment 
which had procured for him in his early days the epithet of " lo 
Bien-aime." He was borne to his grave amid general and sin- 
cere lamentations. Henry VI. was proclaimed his successor, with 
regal pomp, at Paris ; a similar claim was made at the same mo- 
ment for Charles VH. in the modest chapel of the castle of Mehun, 
near Bourges. 

§ 15. An English prince of the blood, John, duke of Bedford, 
now assumed the government of France in the name of his infant 
nephew ; and his firm and vigorous regency was acknowledged at 
Paris and throughout the provinces north of the Loire. Bedford's 
main strength lay in his alliance with the Duke of Burgundy ; 
various attempts were made to detach Philip from the English in- 
terest, but without success. In 1423 the union was drawn still 
closer by the marriage of the regent to one of the duke's sisters. 

Charles VII., surnamed " Victorieux," or "the Victorious," 
1422-1461. — Charles VII., having caused himself to be crowned 
at Poitiers, fixed his government at Bourges, and was styled in 
derision by the English " the King of Bourges." His party, how- 
ever, was by no means contemptible ; he was supported by the 
princes of the house of Anjou, whose sister he had mari'iecl ; by 
the Counts of Alengon and Clermont ; and by all the most pow- 
erful baronial families of Languedoc His troops were drawn 
chiefly from foreign states : fifteen hundred men were furnished by 
the Duke of Milan ; six thousand joined him from Scotland under 
the Earl of Douglas, whom Charles created Duke of Touraine ; 
commands and honors in abundance were distributed among the 
Scottish officers ; the Earl of Buchan Avas named Constable of 
France. At first his arms were unsuccessful. He sustained the 
loss of two great battles in successive years (1423, 1424); but a 
singular ti'ain of circumstances caused a diversion in his favor, by 
separating for a time the Duke of Burgundy from his English al- 
lies, who were thus prevented from following up their successes. 

§ 16. The beautiful and high-spirited Jacqueline, countess of 
Hainault and Holland, had contracted a distasteful union with 
the Duke of Brabant, a cousin of the Duke of Burgundy, who was 
his nearest relative and heir. Chafing under the yoke, the countess 
in the year 1421 fled from Hainault, obtained from the deposed 
Pope, Pedro de Luna, a deci'ee annulling her marriage, and shortly 
afterward bestowed her hand upon Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, 
a younger brother of the Eegent Bedford. Philip of Burgundy 
now promptly interfered ; encouraged the repudiated husband to 
resist; defied the Duke of Gloucester to mortal combat; gained 
possession of Mons, where Jacqueline was residing, and placed her 
in confinement at Client until the case should be decided by the 



A.D. 1422-1429. SIEGE OF ORLEANS. 245 

legitimate Pope, Martin V. A breach was thus made bfctween 
the Duke of Burgundy and the English princes ; and Bedford 
seems to have dreaded from this moment that he would ultimately 
reconcile himself to the true heir of the monarchy. The Countess 
Jacqueline escaped from the duke's custody ; and fierce hostilities 
ensued, which terminated in favor of Philip. The Pope pro- 
nounced a decree dissolving Jacqueline's marriage with Humphrey 
of Gloucestei', who thereupon submitted and returned to England ; 
the proud countess was cpmpelled to recognize her cousin of Bur- 
gundy as lawful heir to all her possessions, and bound herself not 
to marry again without his permission. The course of events 
thus suspended for some years the active prosecution of the con- 
test for the crown of France. The advantage, however, was ill 
improved by the indolent Charles, who neglected the affairs of 
state, and trifled away his time among intriguing favorites and mis- 
tresses. Yet his cause was strengthened during this interval by 
at least one wise step, the appointment of the brave and able Count 
de Richemont, brother of the Duke of Brittany, as Constable of 
France. Richemont induced his powerful brother to acknowledge 
Chai-les's claims, and place at his disposal the whole forces of his 
duchy. The stern Constable, however, soon made enemies among 
the royal favorites ; two of them, De Giac and Beaulieu, were 
assassinated by his orders ; a third. La Tremouille, succeeded in 
forming a strong coalition against the count, who was banished 
from Charles's presence, and retired into Brittany. The king 
now rapidly lost all the ground that he had gained ; and through 
the weakness of his own character and the jealous cabals of his 
adherents, his situation became every day more embarrassing and 
critical. 

§ 17. Freed at length from the apprehension excited by the 
movements of the Duke of Burgundy, the Regent Bedford re- 
solved to commence a decisive campaign ; and on the 12th of Oc- 
tober, 1428, the English army, commanded by the Earl of Salis- 
bury, formed the siege of Orleans. This city, the key of the prov- 
inces beyond the Loire, was defended by a brave garrison of two 
thousand men, headed by Dunois, called the Bastard of Orleans, 
and other brave captains, among whom it was fully understood 
that the final fate of Charles and his kingdom was to be contested 
and determined under the walls of Orleans. 

The gallant Salisbury was kiUed by a cannon shot early in the 
siege, and was succeeded by the Earl of Suffolk. In February, 
1429, the besieged, receiving intelligence of a large convoy dispatch- 
ed by the regent from Paris, resolved to sally in force with the 
hope of intercepting it ; a column of six thousand men advanced 
to Rouvray, where, they encountered the English under Sir John 



246 CHARLES VII. Chap. XI. 

Fastolfe. The French attacked hastily and Avithout judgment, 
and were easily thrown into confusion and dispersed. Dunois es- 
caped with a severe wound ; the Scottish Constable Stewart, his 
brother, and many other valiant knights, perished on the spot. 
This disaster, known as the " Journee des Harengs," from the salt 
fish of which the convoy chiefly consisted, for the use of the army 
during Lent, spread consternation among the Royalists ; it seem- 
ed doubtful whether it would be possible to prolong the struggle 
in the north, and many advised that the king should at once re- 
treat, while he was able, into Languedoc. The Count of Clermont, 
taking with him two thousand soldiers, abandoned Orleans in de- 
spair ; and the inhabitants, thus left without resource or hope, 
communicated with the Duke of Burgundy, and offered to surren- 
der the city into his hands, provided the regent would consent 
upon these tei-ms to withdraw from the siege. The duke accepted 
the proposal, but the regent refused to entertain it ; Philip retired 
to Flanders in great iri-itation, and ordered all his vassals to quit 
the English army. 

The cause of Charles seemed desperate, and with it that of 
French nationality. Orleans was more and more hardly pressed, 
and became day by day less capable of defense ; the king remained 
in helpless perplexity at Chinon, debating projects of escape from 
France to seek an obscure asylum in Spain or Scotland. But at 
this juncture a revolution declared itself on behalf of the suffering 
nation, which, if not to be ascribed, as it was in that age, to direct 
mii-acle, was at least of so marvelous a character as to lead us to 
look beyond the second causes and visible instruments by which it 
was effected. 

§ 18. In the village of Domremy, on the Meuse, on the frontiers 
of Burgundy and Lorraine, there lived at this time a peasant maid- 
en named Jeanne Dare,* the daughter of respectable parents, whom 
she assisted in the humble occupations of husbandry and tending 
cattle. Nurtured from childhood in loyal attachment to the throne, 
Jeanne had learned to identify the cause of her sovereign Avith 
that of Pleaven. France w^as "the realm of Jesus;" the earthly 
monarch was the visible lieutenant of the King of kings. Her soul 
burned within her on witnessing the misery and degradation of her 
country under the English yoke ; its deliverance became the cen- 
tre of her most ardent hopes — the cherished day-dream of her life. 
Fastening with the eager tenacity of a romantic imagination upon 
a current tradition derived from the prophecies of Merlin, to the 
effect that France should be saved by a virgin from the borders of 
Lorraine, Jeanne conceived from an early age a devout conviction 

* Such appears to be the correct orthography. Sec H. Martin, Hist, de 
F.jvol.vi., p. 134. 



A.D. 1429. JEANNE DARC. 247 

that she herself was this predestined instrument of Providence ; 
and the idea, thus interwoven with her religion, soon took the 
form of a direct and irresistible inspiration from above. 

Shortly before the commencement of the siege of Orleans the 
enthusiastic Jeanne souglit an interview with Robert de Baudri- 
court, governor of the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs, and re- 
lated to him a strange tale of ecstatic visions and supernatural 
"•voices" — communications from the Archangel Michael, St. Cath- 
arine, St. Marguerite — by whom she was charged to rescue the 
distressed monarch from his enemies, and conduct him in triumph 
to be crowned at Reims. Baudricourt at first treated her with 
ridicule as an impostor, but at length became so impressed by her 
simple earnestness, modesty, and importunity, that, after applying 
to the king for instructions, he dispatched the Maid with a suffi- 
cient escort to Chinon. Supporting manfully the hardships and 
fatigues of the long journey, Jeanne reached the court early in 
March, 1429, and on the fourth day after her arrival was admitted 
to the presence of Charles. By way of testing her, the monarch 
placed himself among a crowd of nobles, in a dress in no way dis- 
tinguished from theirs ; the young visionai'y advanced straight to- 
ward him, and, bending the knee, addressed him in terms befitting 
his rank, and with unaffected dignity announced her errand. 
Charles now took her apart ; and in the conversation which fol- 
lowed Jeanne is said to have given him satisfactory proof of her 
commission by mentioning to him a fact which he believed to be 
known to none but God and himself. The king- no longer doubt- 
ed ; but, in order to dispel all suspicion from the public mind, the 
personal character of Jeanne, both as to religious faith and moral 
purity, was subjected to strict investigation, and pronounced on all 
points unimpeachable. Her fame spread rapidly through the 
country, and she became the object of universal reverence, admi- 
ration, and confidence, as an inspired messenger from above. It 
was resolved to dispatch her, according to her urgent entreaties, 
to the relief of Orleans. She was furnished with a complete suit 
of armor, mounted on a war-horse, and girt with a mysterious 
sword brought by her desire from the church of St. Catharine de 
Fierbois ; a page bore her banner, a white field " fleur-de-lise," 
blazoned with a figure of the Savior, and the motto "Jesus Ma- 
ria." On the 27th of April the Maid, after sending a formal sum- 
mons to the Duke of Bedford, requiring him and his lieutenants 
to surrender all their fortresses and retire from France, advanced 
from Blois toward Orleans, attended by several officers". On the 
29th she crossed the Loire and entered the city without opposition 
from the enemy ; and such was the magic effect of her presence 
both on l)epie<Ters and besiesjed, that on the first sortie one of the 



248 CHARLES VII. Chap. XI. 

English " bastides" was captured and demolished, and its defend- 
ers slain to a man. At daybreak on the 8th of May Jeanne head- 
ed a concentrated attack on the fort of the Tournelles, the stron- 
gest point of the English position. Here, in the hottest of the 
fight, the heroine received a severe wound in the bosom, and for 
a few moments showed some signs of feminine weakness ; but 
quickly recovering, she drew out the weapon with her own hand, 
and hurried again to the front. The troops, borne along, as it 
were, by superhuman impulse, returned impetuously to the charge ; 
the enemy, panic-struck, gave way after a brief struggle ; their 
leader, Gladsdale, was precipitated by a cannon shot into the Loire, 
and the fortress was won. 

The fall of the Tournelles completed the discomfiture of the 
English. On the very next day they hroke up their camp, and 
retreated hastily, abandoning their baggage and artillery. 

§ 19. The victorious "Maid of Orleans" (Pucelle d'Orle'ans) 
now urged the king to march without delay upon Reims: "I 
shall not last,'"' she said, "more than a year; I must employ the 
time well." After some hesitation her bold counsel was adopted. 
On the 10th of June the French stormed Jargeau, where the Earl 
of Suffolk was taken prisoner; on the 18th the same fate befell 
the gallant Lord Talbot at Patay, and two thousand five hundred 
of his troops were slain. Charles's army met with a check at 
Troyes, which closed its gates and prepared for a siege ; but the 
energy of Jeanne overcame all obstacles ; she led the troops im- 
dauntedly to the assault, and the garrison, paralyzed by sudden 
terror, threw down their arms and yielded entrance to the invin- 
cible Maid and her train. On the 16tli of.July the royal cortege 
arrived in sight of Reims, and on the next day Charles, in the 
midst of an indescribable tumult of joy, received the sacred unc- 
tion, with all accustomed rites, in its superb cathedral. Jeanne, 
who stood beside the altar with her standard in her hand, was the 
first to congratulate the monarch, and called upon him to recognize 
the accomplishment of her predictions. 

Dark and complicated intrigues succeeded. The Regent Bed- 
ford, alarmed and confounded, sought anxiously to renew his al- 
liance with the Duke of Burgundy. That prince was persuaded 
to come to Paris, and by his exertions, aided by a re-enforcement 
from England under the Cardinal of Winchester, a considerable 
force was collected for the defense of the capital. But, receiving 
at the same time friendly overtures from Charles and his favorites, 
Philip pursued a double-faced policy, and much precious time was 
lost to the king's cause through indecision and inaction. The Maid 
of Orleans labored to infuse vigor into the counsels of Charles, but 
found her elForts constantly thwarted by the mean jealousy of La 



A.D. 14-29-1431. CAPTURE OF JEANNE DARC. 249 

Tremouille and other confidants. At length she succeeded in 
bringing the royal army face to face with the English under Bed- 
ford at Senlis ; but the regent declined a battle, and retreated to- 
ward Paris. Losing all patience, -on the 23d of August Jeanne 
put the army in motion for Paris, and took possession of St. Denis 
unopposed. Such, however, was the inconceivable apathy, per- 
verseriess, and incapacity of Charles, and such the bitter ill will 
cherished against Jeanne by his chief counselors, that this move- 
ment upon the capital was feebly sustained, and ended in failure. 
The French were repulsed on the 8th of September in an attack 
on the Porte St. Honore ; it was determined to retreat ; and the 
Maiden, with a heavy heart and deep presentiments of evil, fol- 
lowed the king beyond the Loire. During the winter, which 
passed in inactivity, Charles granted letters of nobility to the fam- 
ily of Jeanne, and all their posterity both in the male and female 
line. 

In the spring of 1430 the Maid, leaving Charles sunk in indo- 
lence at the chateau of Sully, again took the field. In a success- 
ful engagement near Lagny she captured a sanguinary brigand 
named Franquet, and condemned him to pay the forfeit of his 
many crimes with his life. This exasperated the Burgundians, and 
made them more relentless in their subsequent revenge. Jeanne 
now threw herself into Compiegne, where she was besieged by 
Philip of Burgundy. On the 23d of May she executed a vigorous 
sortie ; but, encountered by the Burgundians with overpowering 
numbers, Avas driven back tmder the walls of the town, where she 
found the drawbridge raised and the gates closed. Defending her- 
self desperately till all her followers were slain or captive, she sur- 
rendered at length to a knight in the service of John of Luxemburg, 
and was carried off prisoner, amid the acclamations of the enemy, 
to the Burgundian camp at Margni. 

§ 20. The blood-hounds now rushed with savage fury on their 
prey. The prisoner was forthwith claimed by the University and 
the Inquisition as suspected of heresy, sorcery, and other crimes 
Avithin the cognizance of the Church. The details of the subse- 
quent proceedings are not precisely known ; but the result was, 
that after a detention of near six months in various prisons, Jeanne 
was basely sold to the Duke of Bedford, at the instigation of Philip 
of Burgundy, for the sum of ten thousand francs. Early in No- 
vember she was delivered up to the duke's officers at Crotoy, and, 
being conveyed to Rouen, was confined in the castle in an iron cage, 
heavily chained. Bedford and his party thirsted for her blood no 
less eagerly than the ecclesiastical authorities ; and a process in the 
spiritual courts being deemed the easiest and surest means of effect- 
ing her ruin, the hapless Maid was consigned to the hands of one of 

L2 



250 



CHARLES VII. 



ClIAP. XI. 



the most unscrupulous partisans of the English, Pierre Cauchon, 
bishop of Beauvais, in whose diocese she had been taken prisoner. 
In order to obtain materials of interrogation, revelations Avere 
drawn from her by a priest under the seal of confession, and taken 
down by notaries concealed in the adjoining chamber. On the 21st 
of February, 1431, the trial commenced in the chapel of the castle 
at Rouen, before Cauchon and the vicar of the inquisitor general 
of France, with fifty doctors of the Sorbonne as assessors. For 
sixteen days did this infamous tribunal exhaust every artifice of 
legal and theological chicanery in order to embarrass and entrap 
a simple uneducated girl, whose only crime Avas an enthusiastic 
and unbounded patriotism. Though denied the assistance of an 
advocate, Jeanne baflfled the practiced subtlety of her judges, main- 
tained immovably the Divine origin of her visions and " voices," 
and made no single admission which could justify conviction. 
Twelve articles were at length drawn up and submitted to the final 
decision of the University of Paris. The sentence, unfavorable in 
all points to the prisoner, Avas published on the 18th of April. 
Jeanne's pretended revelations Avere pronounced to have come, not 
from God, but from the Evil One ; she Avas found'guilty of blas- 
phemy, imposture, indecency, schismatical opinions upon the unity 

and authority of the Church, 
She Avas noAV again brought 
before the judges, and re- 
quired to sign an act of re- 
tractation, Avith threats of in- 
stant death by fire in case of 
refusal. Overcome by terror, 
she set her hand to a schedule 
by Avhich she confessed her- 
self a deliberate deceiver, and 
Avas thereupon condemned to 
the penance of perpetual im- 
prisonment upon bread and 
water. It is alleged that 
scandalous means Avere noAV 
resorted to to induce her to 
retract her abjuration ; and 
this end Avas obtained in the 
course of a few days by her 
resuming her male attire, and 
asserting that she had received fresh communications from her at- 
tendant saints and angels. Upon this the unhappy girl AA'as 
handed over as a relapsed penitent to the secular arm ; and on the 
30th of May, 1431, being brought out upon the market-place of 




Jeanne Dare, the Maid of Orleans. 
From an ancient MS. 



A.D. 1431-1432. TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF JEANNE DARC. £51 

Rouen, she was burnt to death at the stake, affirming with her last 
breath that her " voices" had not deceived her, and that all she had 
done had been in accordance with the command of God. Never 
Avas there a truer martyrdom than that of the Maid of Orleans. 

It is difficult to apportion the amount of guilt among the several 
actors in this miserable drama. To charge it undividedly upon the 
English were a palpable inj ustice. The fortune of war had thrown 
into their power an enemy whose unexampled successes threatened 
the utter ruin of their cause, and who was popularly regarded by 
their party as no better than an instrument of Satan. The regent 
and his council shamefully abused this advantage ; but others must 
at least share the disgrace — the Duke of Burgundy, the heads of 
the Inquisition, the stern bigots of the Sorbonne, the bloodthirsty 
Cauchon of Beauvais. And perhaps the blackest part of all, in 
some respects, must be assigned to Charles VII. It is scarcely 
credible, but nevertheless unquestionably true, that Charles made 
not the slightest effiDrt of intervention to save the life of one to 
whom he owed all his recent successes, his coronation, and his fair 
prospect of recovering the whole realm ©f France. Swayed by the 
sinister counsels of La Tremouille and the Archbishop of Eeims, 
sworn enemies of Jeanne, the king seems to have banished from his 
mind every sentiment of common gratitude, generosity, and hu- 
manity ; nor was it till more than twenty jears had elapsed that 
he took any step toward repairing the atrocious injustice which 
had destroyed the deliverer of France. Then indeed an inquiry 
was instituted, the result of which laid bare the execrable arts 
and treachery of the judges, and completely re-established the fame 
and memory of their innocent victim. The sentence was publicly 
reversed and canceled ; and two solemn processions in honor of the 
Pucelle were ordained to take place annually at Kouen — one on 
the Place St. Ouen, where the judgment had been delivered; the 
other on the old market-place, the scene of the execution. 

§ 21. The death of Jeanne Dare, from which Bedford expected 
a change of fortune in his favor, had a precisely contrary effijct ; 
from this date the reverses of the English became more and more 
frequent and decisive. In vain the regent caused the youthful 
Henry VI. to be brought to Paris and croAvned at Notre Dame ; 
the ceremony passed in chilling silence ; and the ill-feeling of the 
capital became so marked, that Plenry took his departure at the 
end of a few weeks, and retired to Normandy. Chartres capitu- 
lated to Dunois ; the regent was defeated in pei'son at Lagny. A 
more important occurrence was the death of the Duchess of Bed- 
ford, sister of Philip of Burgundy, in November, 1432. The tie 
between them being thus broken, a coolness ensued between the 
two dukes, Avhich was soon increased by the remarriage of Bed- 



252 CHARLES Vir. Chap. XI. 

ford without consultation or communication with Philip : an open 
rupture was the consequence. Wearied of the English alliance, 
the Duke of Burgundy had been for some time meditating a recon- 
ciliation with Charles VII., which might lead to a general pacifi- 
cation. The wisest of the king's advisers labored anxiously for 
the same object ; and by their joint agency the unworthy favorite 
La Treraouille, who for his own selfish ends opposed this patriotic 
project, was arrested and imprisoned ; a step of which Charles was 
compelled, after some resistance, to signify his approval. The 
faithful De Richemont was now deservedly reinstated in the royal 
favor. A general congress for a definite peace met at Arras in 
August, 1435, and was attended by Philip of Burgundy in person, 
by numerous and splendid embassies representing the Kings of 
France and England, and by envoys from the Pope, the Council 
of Basle, the emperor, the Kings of Castile and Aragon, and vari- 
ous other powers. The English commissioners, unable to obtain 
the terms they desired, quitted Arras on the 6th of September. 
A few days afterward intelligence arrived of the death of the Ke- 
gent Bedford at Kouen ; and the Duke of Burgundy, considering 
his engagements with the English to be thus at an end, no longer 
hesitated to follow the line which became him as a prince of the 
blood royal of France. He offered Charles sincere though some- 
what expensive terms of reconciliation, and the treaty of Arras 
was signed on the 21st of September. The king made ample sat- 
isfaction to the duke for the assassination of Jean sans Peur, and 
pleaded his extreme youth as the only excuse for the part he had 
acted in the tragedy. He also yielded up to Philip the counties 
of Macon and Auxerre, and other towns and territories on the 
Somme and in Ponthieu, exempting him from all homage to the 
crown, and thus i-ecognizing him as an independent sovereign. 
Upon these conditions the duke agreed to bury the past in ob- 
livion, to support Charles against the English and all other ene- 
mies, and observe toward him relations of strict and perpetual 
amity. This happy termination of the intestine discord which 
had convulsed Fi-ance for upwai'd of twenty-five years was hailed 
with the warmest demonstrations of popular joy. 

At the same moment occurred the death of a personage whose 
name had once been busily conspicuous in the transactions of this 
disordered period, but who had long sunk into neglect and ob- 
scurity. Isabella of Bavaria expired at Paris on the 24th of Sep- 
tember, universally despised and hated. Her funeral was poor- 
ly attended, and performed at St. Denis without aught of royal 
pomp. 

§ 22. The peace of Arras was followed in the spring of 1436 
by the submission of Paris to the troops of the Duke of Burgundy 



A.D. 1432-1139. PEACE OF AERAS.— SUBMISSION OF PARIS. 253 

and the Constable de Richemont. The English fought desperate- 
ly in the streets, and, being outnumbered, made good their retreat 
to the fortress of the Bastile ; they were soon, however, forced to 
capitulate, and evacuated the city amid the exulting shouts and 
taunts of the populace. Kichemont made a wise and generous 
use of his victory by publishing a general amnesty ; Armagnacs 
and Burgundians forgot their ancient animosity, and embraced as 
brothers ; and from that moment the throne of Chai'les was sub- 
stantially secure. 

Years, however, elapsed before France recovered the blessings 
of peace, after so long a period of anarchy and destructive war- 
fare. The Royalist soldiery, uniting with the dregs of the Cabo- 
chiens of Paris, threw off all discipline, formed themselves into 
predatory bands, and committed indiscriminate pillage and rapine 
in all directions. Under the terrible name of " ecorcheurs," they 
renewed all the wildest excesses of the late civil war ; and as they 
were countenanced by officers of reputation, such as La Hire and 
Santrailles, the Constable found it necessary to oppose them reso- 
lutely with all the force he could collect. Violent contests took 
place, and several hundreds of the brigands were captured and ex- 
ecuted. The Constable was aided in this enterprise by the pro- 
vost marshal Tristan I'Hermite, afterward the dreaded confidential 
agent of the tyranny of Louis XL 

On the 12th of November, 1437, Charles made his triumphal 
entry into the capital, and met with an enthusiastic reception. 
He had not visited Paris since that fatal night when he had been 
carried off from the palace by Tanneguy Duchatel, on the out- 
break of the Burgundian insurrection, nineteen years before. The 
king, however, made but a brief sojourn in the city, which suffered 
fearfully during the winter from a destructive epidemic ; nor did 
he ever reside in Paris for more than a few weeks together during 
the remainder of his reign. 

Charles, who now suddenly displayed an amount of energy, in- 
telligence, and talent for which no one had hitherto given him 
credit,* proceeded to convoke the States-General at Orleans in 
October, 1439, and published in this assembly an ordinance of vast 
national importance, establishing a permanent military foi'ce for 
the defense of the kingdom. This measure — the true remedy for 
the destructive ravages of the ecorcheurs — was unanimously rati- 
fied by the three orders. All the officers were to be nominated 
by the king; and the nobles were prohibited, upon pain of incur- 
ring the penalties of high treason, to enroll soldiers henceforth, 
upon any pretense, without the royal permission. This was a di- 

* This remarkable change in the king's conduct is ascribed by Brantomc 
mid others to the influence of his mistress, Agnes Sorel. 



254 CHARLES VII. Chap. XI, 

rect attack upon the system of feudalism, abolishing at a stroke 
one of its most important privileges. 

§ 23. It was not to be expected that a change of this nature, 
however manifestly for the public advantage, could be carried out 
vi'ithout determined opposition ; and accordingly several of the 
discontented nobility leagued with the leaders of the ecorcheurs 
to resist the execution of the royal decree. This insurrection, 
which was called the " Praguerie," in allusion to the Hussite war 
in Bohemia, which then fixed the attention of Europe, was headed 
by the Dukes of Bourbon and Alen9on, the Count of Vendome, 
and even by the loyal and valiant Dunois ; the disgraced favorite, 
La Tremouille, embarked in it with vehement zeal ; and by their 
persuasions the restless and ambitious Dauphin Louis was induced 
to join the movement. The insurgents, however, met with little 
or no sympathy ; the Duke of Burgundy refused them his sup- 
port, and the Duke of Bourbon found himself unable to command 
the adherence even of his own immediate vassals. The king, vig- 
orously seconded by the Constable Eichemont, dislodged the rebels 
without difficulty from all their positions, and soon reduced them 
to submission. 

Farther successes of the royal arms in Gascony and Normandy 
disposed the English, in 1444, to negotiate for peace ; and the Eai'l 
of Suffolk being dispatched as plenipotentiary, a conference was 
held at Tours, when Charles consented to an armistice of twenty- 
two months, each side to retain the territories of Avhich they were 
actually in possession. This treaty also stipulated a marriage be- 
tween Henry of England and the youthful and beautiful Marguerite 
of Anjou, daughter of Rene, titular king of Sicily, and niece of the 
Queen of France. The marriage was celebrated at Nancy in the 
spring of 1445. 

§ 24. This great obstacle to the re-establishment of order being 
now removed, Charles found himself in a position to carry out the 
statute passed at Orleans for the constitution of a regular stand- 
ing army. The military force in the pay of the crown was re- 
duced, accoi-ding to the terms of the edict, to fifteen "compagnies 
d'ordonnance" of one hundred lances each. To each of these lances 
were attached three archers, a page, and a "coutiller;" so that the 
entire strength amounted to nine thousand men-at-arms. The 
"compagnies" were now distributed in the various towns through- 
out the kingdom, the largest gai-risons consisting of not more than 
twenty "lances ;" and disorder was every where replaced by exact 
discipline and a general sense of security. The military organi- 
zation was completed, three years later, by the creation of an in- 
fantry force, called the "franc archers," because these soldiers were 
exempted from payment of the taille. Each of the sixteen thou- 



A.D, 1439-1461. ENGLISH EXPELLED FEOM FRANCE. 255 

sand parishes of France was bound to furnish an archer, fully 
armed and equipped, to be ready to serve when called upon, at a 
pay of four livres per month. It is scarcely necessary to remark 
the enormous increase of power Avhich was thus thrown into the 
hands of the sovereign. 

§ 25. The truce with England Avhich had been several times 
prolonged, was suddenly broken in the spring of 1449, when the 
town of Fougeres, belonging to the Duke of Brittany, was attack- 
ed and plundered by a band of adventurers in the English service. 
Satisfaction having been demanded Avithout result, the royal army 
entered Normandy under the orders of Dunois. In the course of 
two years the English were driven out of Normandy ; and in 1451 
the French recovered Gascony, which, for the space of three cen- 
turies, had acknowledged the English rule. In the following 
year (1452) the Gascons rose against the French, and an arma- 
ment under the command of Talbot, now Earl of Shrewsbury, 
and nearly eighty years of age, appeared before Bordeaux and en- 
tered the city without resistance, the garrison having previous!}' 
retired. But in 1453 the English were defeated, and the noble 
Talbot was mortally wounded. The broken remnant of his army 
repassed the Channel, and no farther effort was made by the En- 
glish government to renew the struggle. The dream of Anglo- 
Saxon domination on the Continent was at length finally dis- 
pelled. Of all the bloody conquests of a warfare of one hundred 
and twenty yeai's' duration, nothing now remained except the 
towns of Calais and Guines, with the narrow strip of adjacent 
territory. 

§ 26. Charles had fairly earned the epithet of " Le Victorieux," 
and had become one of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe. 
Nevertheless;, his latter years were perhaps the most unhappy of 
his reign ; they were constantly embittered by domestic feud, and 
especially by the undutiful and factious conduct of the dauphin. 
Ever since the affair of the Praguerie, the king and his son had 
lived in mutual suspicion and estrangement. The court of Louis 
in Dauphine became the focus of intrigue against the government ; 
he contracted a marriage with a princess of Savoy in direct oppo- 
sition to his father's wishes ; he maintained a close intimacy with 
the Duke of Burgundy, the great rival of the French monarchy, 
and he at length took refuge at the Flemish court at Brussels. 

Relapsing into his constitutional indolence, Charles surrendered 
himself more and more to the dominion of selfish and unworthy 
ministers and mistresses. The gentle Agnes Sorel had died in 
1450, and had been succeeded in the king's affections by her niece, 
the " Dame dc Villequier," a woman of abandoned character and 
vindictive passions. Tormented by morbid apprehensions of all 



256 CHARLES VII. Chap. XL 

kinds, and especially by the idea that the dauphin was constantly 
plotting against his life, the wretched king sunk gradually into a 
state bordering on insanity, a tendency to which he is said to have 
inherited from his father. At length Charles was afflicted with 
an ulcer in the mouth, which he regarded as an indubitable symp- 
tom of poison ; and from this moment he obstinately refused to 
take nourishment of any kind. As a last resource, the physicians 
endeavored to force food upon him after a total abstinence of sev- 
en days; but the pov/ers of nature were exhausted, and the king 
died a miserable death at the chateau of Mehun-sur-Yevre on the 
22d of July, 1461. He had reached the age of fifty-eight, and 
had reigned nearly thirty-nine years. 




Louis XI. From a very rare medal preserved at Paria. 
CHATTER XII. 

LOUIS XI. AND CHARLES VIII. A.D. 1461-1498. 

§ 1. Accession of Louis XI. ; his Character. § 2. Revocation of the Trag, 
matic Sanction; Territorial Acquisitions of Louis; the "League of the 
Public Good ;" Battle of Montl'he'ry ; Treaty of Conflans. § 3. Nor- 
mandy resumed by Louis ; the King excites Rebellion against the Duke 
of Burgundy ; Accession of Charles the Bold ; Enmity between Louis and 
, Charles. § 4. Louis XI. at Peronne. § 5. Cardinal de Balue. § 6. In- 
terference of Louis in the Affairs of England ; Death of the Duke of 
Guienne ; Hostilities against Charles of Burgundy. § 7. Severities of 
Louis against the great Nobles; Intrigues of the Duke of Burgundy; 
Treaties of Pequigny and Soleure ; Execution of the Constable St. Pol. 
§ 8. War of Charles the Bold against the Swiss ; Battle of Nancy and 
Death of Charles ; Louis seizes the Duchy of Burgundy. § 9. Louis fo- 
ments Insurrection against Mary of Burgundy ; her Marriage with Max- 
imilian of Austria; Execution of the Duke of Nemours. § 10. War with 
Maximilian ; Death of Mary of Burgundy; Treaty of Arras. § 11. An- 
nexation of Anjou, Maine, and Provence ; Success and Power of Louis ; 
his latter Years; the Castle of Plessis-les-Tours ; Death of Louis. § 12. 
Accession of Charles VIII. ; Anne of Beaujeu ; Louis of Orleans ; the 
States-General at Tours. § 13. Revolt of the Duke of Orleans; Death 
of Francis, Duke of Brittany ; Intrigues for the Possession of Brittany ; 
Anne beti-othed to the Emperor Maximilian ; her Marriage with Charles 
VJII. of France; Peace of Senlis; Peace of Etaples. § 14. Expedition 
of Charles VIII. to Italy; he enters Naples; Coalition against him; his 
Retreat; Battle of Fornovo. § 15. Battle of Seminara; Capitulation of 
Atella; the French expelled from Italy. § 16. Death of Charles VIII. 

§ 1. Louis XI., 1461-1483.— Louis, who was still in Flnn- 
dej:s when he received the news of his accession, immediately set 



258 LOUIS XI. Chap. XII. 

out for France, accompanied by Philip of Burgundy, who assem- 
bled for his escort an immense multitude of nobles and knights, 
approaching in numbers to an army. Louis, distrusting this splen- 
did demonstration, persuaded the duke to dismiss the greater part 
of his armed followers, retaining only his ordinary suite, and, thus 
reassured, he proceeded without delay to celebrate his coronation 
at Reims. Louis entered the capital, and at once removed from 
their offices the ministers of the late reign, replacing them by men 
of obscure birth and worthless character, to whom he gave his ex- 
clusive confidence. 

Tiie new king ascended the throne in the full vigor of manhood 
and matured experience. Gifted by nature with a good under- 
standing, keen sagacity, and a resolute will, he had early proposed 
to himself a definite and paramount object of policy, namely, the 
overthrow of the antiquated system of feudalism, the reduction of 
the great nobles to comparative insignificance, and the concentra- 
tion of the whole power of absolute government in the hands of 
the crown. No man was ever better qualified to succeed in such 
an enterprise. Government was with him a science ; he had stud- 
ied it profoundly, and had learned how to profit to the utmost by 
the weaknesses, the vices, and the passions of mankind. A con- 
summate master of the arts of dissimulation and duplicity, he 
made it the main business of his life to overreach and circumvent 
others, and accounted successful fraud the most conspicuous proof 
of talent. Where his predecessors would have employed violence, 
Louis trusted to cajolery, corruption, and perfidy. He understood 
to perfection how to play off one class of interest against another; 
how to scatter the seeds of division and estrangement so as to 
profit afterward by the discord he had fomented. The victims 
whom his cunning had entrapped were treated, when he saw fit, 
with a tyrannical cruelty which has seldom been exceeded, and 
which shows that his heart was callous to the most ordinary feel- 
ings of our nature. Such a character in such a station could not 
but pi'oduce important results, not only in France, but on the 
general policy and social condition of Euro|3e. At the same time, 
his histoi-y is full of strange contrasts and anomalies. Louis real- 
ized his objects as a sovereign by sacrificing Avithout scruple all 
his obligations as a man ; and the consequence is, that he Avill be 
estimated very differently according as we regard him in his pub- 
lic or in his private capacity. Few princes have done mot'e to 
extend the power and exalt the dignity of France : few have left 
upon the page of history a personal portrait of darker or more 
odious coloring. 

§ 2. One of the first steps of Louis was to revoke the celebrated 
enactment of his father called the Pragmatic Sanction, Avhicli Avas 



A.D. 1461-1464. TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS OF LOUIS. 259 

regarded as the main charter of the liberties of the Gallican 
Church. This was at once an insult to the memory of Charles 
VII., a sore offense to the nobility, who were thus deprived of 
considerable ecclesiastical patronage and influence, and a source 
of discontent and irritation among the clergy of all ranks. The 
Parliament refused to ratify the decree of abolition ; the king, 
however anxious to gratify the Holy See, declined to interfere 
farther, and the question remained in dispute during his whole 
reign. The court of Rome, treating the Pragmatic Sanction as 
null and void, assumed the nomination to benefices throughout 
the kingdom. The Parliament denied this right,and encouraged 
and supported all who showed themselves disposed to contest it. 
The king, without coming to an open rupture either Avith one 
party or the other, sided by tui'ns with both according to the dic- 
tates of his interest. 

In 14C2 Louis acquired possession of the territories of Koussil- 
lon and Cerdagne, which were pledged to him by Juan II. of Ar- 
agon in security for the payment of a large sum lent by Louis for 
the prosecution of the war against the revolted Catalans. While 
thus extending his frontier toward the south, the king concluded a 
negotiation with the Duke of Burgundy, by which he redeemed, 
for the sum of 400,000 crowns, the towns of Amiens, Abbeville, 
and St. Quentin, ceded by the treaty of Arras. This transaction 
drew upon Louis the bitter and mortal enmity of the duke's eldest 
son, Charles, count of Charolois, afterward so celebrated under the 
name of Charles le Temeraire, or the Bold. The two princes had 
formerly professed an intimate friendship, which had given place 
to mutual coolness and distrust. The loss of the important line 
of the Somme, which Charles regarded, somewhat unjustly, as an 
act of spoliation committed against his aged father, incensed him 
beyond endurance, and from that time forward he studiously fo- 
mented discontent and opposition to Louis, which ere long broke 
out into open violence. 

Before Louis had been four years on the throne he had excited 
against himself a deep and determined spirit of hostility, Avhich 
extended through all classes of society. Nobles, clergy, bour- 
geoisie, had been alike alienated by various acts of wanton provo- 
cation and despotic oppression, while at the head of the malcon- 
tents were several feudal princes and potentates of the first conse- 
quence. Francis II., duke of Brittany, whom Louis had mali- 
ciously attempted to embroil with the Count de Chai;olois, now 
entered into a strict alliance with that prince against the King of 
France ; and toward the close of 1464 the conspiracy was fully 
organized by the adhesion of the Dukes of Bourbon, Lorraine, 
Alen9on, and Nemours. The Duke of Berry, a vain and feeble- 



260 LOUIS XI. CiiAi-. xir- 

minded youth of nineteen, suddenly made his escape from court 
and joined the confederates at Nantes. 

The coalition, which assumed the name of the "League of the 
Public Good," published a manifesto (1465) setting forth the views 
of its members for the reformation of the state, and commenced 
hostilities. Louis, cool and undismayed, issued a reply to the 
statement of the princes, in which he pointedly observed that, if 
he had been willing to augment their revenues and permit them 
to trample upon their vassals as in times gone by, they would never 
have concerned themselves about the " public good." A bloody 
but indecisive battle was fought on the 16tli of July at Montl'he'ry 
between the king and the Count of Charolois ; but Louis secured 
his real object, which was to gain possession of the capital. He 
entered Paris twa days after the battle, and labored with all his 
resources of flattery and intrigue to win the confidence and sup- 
port of the citizens. The success of these manceuvres placed him 
in a position of so much advantage, that, when the army of the 
confederate princes approached Paris, they gladly accepted the 
king's first overtures of pacification. A private interview took 
place between Louis and the Count de Charolois ; and by the treaty 
of Conflans, Louis, Avho was determined to dissolve the hostile 
combination at whatever price, agreed to conditions of peace deep- 
ly humiliating to his crown, and conceded all the demands of his 
rebellious vassals, without exception or reserve. Every one of 
them carried off his share of the spoil. The towns on the Somme 
were once moi'e relinquished to the Duke of Burgundy ; the Duke 
of Berry was invested with the hereditary appanage of Normandy ; 
the Duke of Brittany was presented with the counties of Etampes 
and Montfort ; the Constable's sword was delivered to the Count 
de St. Pol. The only article at all relating to the " public good" 
was one inserted for form's sake, appointing a council for the in- 
vestigation of alleged abuses, with the power of applying a remedy 
imder the sanction of the king. 

§ 3. But Louis, although compelled to yield by the pressing ne- 
cessities of the moment, never intended to execute in good faith an 
engagement which must have resulted in the ruin of the monarchy. 
His object was to gain time, to disunite the confederates, to en- 
feeble them by jealousy and rivalry, and, by some of those strata- 
gems in which he was so perfect an adept, to strip them of their 
acquisitions and lay them helpless at his feet. That article of the 
treaty by. which the duchy of Normandy was ceded to the king's 
brother was at once rejected by the Parliament as an illegal dis- 
memberment of the kingdom ; and Louis soon found means to re- 
annex the province to the crown. Dissensions were excited be- 
tween the young duke and his neighbor the Duke of Brittany, and 



A.D. 1460-1468. LOUIS AT PERONNE. 261 

the latter withdrew to his estates in deep displeasure. The king 
now adroitly opened a correspondence with him, and purchased 
by a large bribe his tacit acquiescence in his design for the seizure 
of Normandy. The Count of Charolois was in no condition to 
interfere, being occupied at the moment in reducing an insurrection 
of the citizens of Liege, which was the secret work of Louis ; and 
other principal members of the league had been skillfully won over 
to the royal interests. Before the close of the year 1465 Louis 
entered Normandy at the head of his army, appeared before Rouen, 
and gained possession of that capital without a struggle ; and in 
January, 1466, the king formally resumed the government of the 
duchy of Normandy, as being a province inalienable from the 
crown according to the constitution of the realm. 

The death of Philip of Burgundy occurred at Bruges in the fol- 
lowing year (June 15, 1467), and Charles the Bold (le Temeraire) 
succeeded to his vast inheritance. The whole of his reign of ten 
yeai's was a continued struggle against his antagonist, Louis of 
France, to whom in character and policy he presented a most sin- 
gular contrast. 

§ 4. Louis, anxious to strengthen himself by some expression of 
popular approbation and sympathy, convoked the States-General 
at Tours in the spring of 1468 ; that assembly, subservient to the 
last degree to the royal will, declared Normandy inseparable from 
the crown, admonished the Duke of Berry to content himself with 
his annual pension of 60,000 livres, and inveighed strongly against 
the Duke of Brittany for having risen in arms against his suzerain, 
and entered into alliance with the English, those inveterate ene- 
mies of F'rance. The States were dismissed after a session of 
eight days ; and the king, assembling two formidable armies, pour- 
ed them into Lower Normandy and Brittany, quickly recovered 
several towns which had been seized by the Bretons, and forced 
his brother and the Duke of Brittany to sign a peace at Ancenis, 
by which they abandoned the alliance of the Duke of Burgundy, 
and engaged to support the king against all opponents. The news 
of this treaty reached Charles at Peronne, where he had ordered 
his forces to assemble with the purpose of joining his allies in a 
combined attack upon France. Furious at their defection, the 
duke demanded of Louis the full execution of the treaty of Con- 
ilans, with immediate war as the alternative. Had Louis accept- 
ed the challenge, and commenced hostilities forthwith, it is more 
than probable that, in the state of isolation to which Charles was 
then reduced, his arms would have been crowned with decisive 
success. But this was a course too bold, direct, and manly for his 
peculiar disposition ; he preferred the crooked paths of subtlety and 
cunning ; and resolved at this critical moment on the extraordinary 



262 LOUIS XI. CiiAi'. XII. 

and hazardous step of seeking a personal conference with his rival 
at Peronne, In vain was the king's purpose combated by Dam- 
martin and other experienced officers ; he suffered himself to be 
swayed by the treacherous counsel of the Cardinal de Balue, who 
was in league with his enemies ; and early in October, 1468, hav- 
ing obtained a written safe-conduct from the duke, set out with a 
slender escort for Peronne. Louis relied on his superiority of in- 
tellect, and proficiency in the arts of flattery and persuasion ; but 
on this occasion he was caught, like other accomplished schemers, 
in his own snares, and narrowly escaped paying for his rashness 
Avith his life. On reaching Peronne, he was received by the duke 
with all outward respect and honor, and lodged, by his own de- 
sire, in the ancient castle, in order to secure himself from treach- 
ery on the part of Charles's followers. Negotiations commenced, 
and proceeded amicably for some days, when suddenly messengers 
arrived with tidings of a fresh and still more terrible outbreak at 
Liege, in which (so it was falsely reported) the bishop had been 
ibuUy assassinated, together wdth the principal members of the 
chapter, his counselors, and a Burgundian nobleman named Hum- 
bercourt. It Avas added that well-known envoys of the King of 
France were present at the massacre. 

Charles burst forth into an ungovernable transport of rage. He 
ordered the gates of the fortress to be closed and trebly guarded, 
so that Louis found himself a prisoner in his apartments, which 
looked out on the ill-omened tower where one of his predecessors, 
Charles the Simple, had met his death from the hands of his vas- 
sal, Herbert of Vermandois. Abandoning himself to the most ex- 
travagant projects of vengeance, the duke at first meditated noth- 
ing short of shedding the blood of his royal captive, who was to 
be replaced on the throne by his brother the Duke of Berry ; and 
messengers were on the point of being dispatched to summon that 
young prince to Peronne. As the storm of passion gradually 
subsided, Charles was persuaded, chiefly, it is believed, by the his- 
torian Philip de Comines, to listen to more reasonable counsels ; 
but the struggle lasted for three days, and during one whole night 
the duke never undressed, but continued to pace his chamber in 
restless agitation. Recovering some degree of calmness, he re- 
leased Louis from personal constraint, exacting, howevej-, as the 
price of his liberty, several conditions of the most mortifying and 
degrading kind. The king bound himself by oath, upon a cele- 
brated relic called the cross of St. Laud, which he was known to 
hold in the deepest veneration, to give complete execution to the 
treaty of Conflans, and to resign to his brother the govei-nment of 
Champagne and Brie in exchange for Normandy. But that which 
galled him most was a promise extorted from him to march in com- 



A.D. 14(i8-l-171. CARDINAL DE BALUE. 263 

pany with the Duke of Burgundy against Liege, and witness the 
merciless punishment inflicted on that city for a rebellion which 
he had himself suggested and supported. The Burgundian army 
was immediately put in motion ; Liege, surprised in a defenseless 
state, was stormed and captured, after a fierce struggle, on the 30th 
of October ; and the town was afterward consigned to all the same 
atrocities of rapine and wholesale carnage which had been enact- 
ed the year before at Dinant. Louis Avas spared the horrors of 
the closing scene, and retired to hide his shame, vexation, and re- 
sentment at Tours. The Parisians did not spare their raillery 
upon the notable expedition to Peronne. 

§ 5. Having escaped from this perilous predicament, the king 
lost no time in repairing, as far as possible, the effects of his strange 
imprudence. The possession of Champagne would have placed 
his brother in too close proximity to Charles of Burgundy ; he 
therefore proposed to him as a substitute the remote duchy of 
Aquitaine or Guienne. This project was betrayed to the Duke 
of Burgundy by the Cardinal de Balue ; and letters having been 
intercepted which compromised the cardinal, that faithless min- 
ister was arrested, stripped of his pi'operty, and confined in a dun- 
geon at Loches, in a cage of iron, the idea of which is said to have 
been suggested by himself to Louis on a former occasion. Prince 
Charles was now easily persuaded to accept Guienne, and, at an 
interview with the king in April, 1469, concluded a treaty by 
which he separated himself entirely from the Duke of Burgundy, 
and even declined a proffered alliance with that prince's only 
daughter and heiress, afterward the celebrated Mary of Burgundy. 

§ 6. In the long and bloody struggle between the houses of Lan- 
caster and York, Louis and Charles, as might be expected, took 
opposite sides. The king, naturally inclined toward his kins- 
woman Marguerite of Anjou, supported the Lancastrians ; the 
duke, who had lately I'cceived the hand of the Princess Margaret, 
sister of Edward, was a zealous partisan of the reigning monarch, 
and took a pride in displaying on all public occasions the Order 
of the Garter and the red cross of St. George. Louis assisted the 
" king-making" Earl of Warwick and Queen Marguerite in an ex- 
pedition for the purpose of reinstating the unfortunate Henry on 
the throne of England. This expedition was for a time crowned 
with success, and Edward embai'ked for Flanders ; but the deci- 
sive battle of Barnet, fought shortly afterward (April 14, 1471), 
again placed Edward on the throne, and extinguished the hopes 
of the Lancastrians. Their champion Warwick was no more. 
Prince Edward was murdered at Tewkesbury, Marguerite became 
a prisoner, Henry perished in the Tower. This change of affairs 
in England, while it greatly encouraged the Burgundians, had a 



264: LOUIS XI. Chap. XII. 

damaging effect upon the prospects of Louis. The malcontent 
pi'inces caballed afresh ; the Duke of Guienne, in close alliance 
with Charles of Burgundy and Francis of Brittany, levied his 
forces under the command of the Count of Armagnac ; and al- 
though Louis offered to treat upon terms of almost abject conces- 
sion, every thing seemed to portend that a great explosion was at 
hand. But fortune once more favored Louis at this crisis; the 
Duke of Guienne expired at Bordeaux in May, 1472, after a lin- 
gering illness. His death so manifestly advantageous to the king, 
was not unnaturally attributed to poison administered by his 
means ; but, although the circumstances were suspicious, there is 
no direct evidence to prove Louis guilty of the crime. 

The Duke of Burgundy, though disconcerted by the loss of his 
most important ally, formally declared war against France in 
June, 1472, and having barbarously pillaged and sacked the town 
of Nesle in Picardy, besieged Beauvais, which made a desperate 
and memorable defense. The city owed its safety, in gi'eat meas- 
ure, to the heroic bravery of its female inhabitants, among whom 
a young girl, called Jeanne la Hachette, was especially distinguish- 
ed. After a furious struggle, in which the assailants were re- 
pulsed with fearful carnage, the siege was raised on the 22d of 
July. This event is still commemorated by an annual procession 
instituted by Louis, in which Avomen take the precedence over men. 
Charles agreed to an armistice for five months, which was pro- 
longed for upward of two years. 

It was about this time that the celebrated Philip de Comines, 
Avhom Charles had treated with intolerable haughtiness, and even 
brutal outrage, quitted his service and attached himself to that of 
his rival, a prince far better qualified to appreciate his character, 
in some points not unlike his own. De Comines spent the rest 
of his life at the French court, and Avrote his " Memoirs" during 
the reign of Charles VIIL 

§ 7. Louis had now leisure to avenge himself on several of the 
feudal nobles who had hitherto refused to submit to his arbitraiy 
rule. The Duke of Alen^on was deprived of his possessions, and 
detained in perpetual imprisonment; the Count of Armagnac was 
cruelly murdered in the presence of his wife ; Avhile a third prince, 
Nicholas, duke of Lorraine, a stanch ally of the Duke of Burgun- 
dy,, died so suddenly about the same period, that the usual expla- 
nation of poison was freely circulated, and common report accused 
Louis of having instigated the deed. 

In 1475 Louis was menaced by a fresh confederacy formed by 
the Duke of Burgundy with Edward IV. of England and the 
Duke of Brittany, by Avhich Edward engaged to reassert the an- 
cient claims of his predecessors to the throne of France, and to 



A.D. 1475. TREATIES OF PEQUIGNY AND SOLEURE. 265 

cede Picardy and Champagne to Burgundy when those provinces 
sliould have been acquired by force of arras. The King of En- 
gland landed at Calais in the summer, with a brilliant array of 
thirty thousand men, well provided with artillery and all the mu- 
nitions of war. But instead of being joined immediately, accord- 
ing to stipulation, by the Burgundian forces, Edward found that 
his ally, who had lately sacrificed a large part of his army in an 
ill-advised invasion of the territory of Cologne, was in no condi- 
tion to take the field. The English began to murmur, and com- 
plained of treacheiy ; misunderstandings ensued between Edward 
and the duke, and the plan of the campaign was totally deranged. 
Charles retired to his dominions, and the invading army, on ad- 
vancing to St. Quentin, where Edward had reckoned on zealous 
co-operation from the Constable St. Pol, found the gates closed, 
and was assailed by a vigorous cannonade. During all this time 
no hostile demonstration whatever was made on the part of Louis ; 
he had no intention of repelling the invasion by force, but recur- 
red -to the far more congenial policy of crafty negotiation. He 
plied Edward with personal flattery and alluring promises ; he 
scattei'ed large bribes among his nobles and officers ; and at length 
it was agreed that an interview should take place between the two 
raonarchs, for the purpose of arranging conditions of peace. They 
met at Pequigny, near Amiens, August 29, 1475, on a bridge over 
the Sommc, where Louis, mindful of the catastrophe ofMontereau, 
had taken all possible precautions against treacherous surprise. 
The princes were separated by a solid wooden francte- work, with- 
out doorway or any means of passage ; they conversed through a 
lattice, and thus ratified the treaty, the provisions of which had 
been arranged befoi'ehand. Louis agreed to pay the expenses of 
the expedition, and an annual sum of fifty thousand crowns during 
the joint lives of himself and Edward; he farther beti'othed his 
son, the Dauphin Charles, to Edward's eldest daughter, engaging 
that the marriage should take place as soon as the parties attain- 
ed the proper age. A truce was pi'oclaimed for seven yeai's, and 
Edward soon afterward sailed for England. The Duke of Bur- 
gundy subsequently concluded at Soleure a peace with Louis for 
nine years. 

It was one of the stipulations between Chai'les and Louis that 
the Constable St. Pol, whose multiplied treasons to both princes 
were notorious, should be given up to the justice of the king. 
Louis wrote to command the Constable's' attendance, observing 
that weighty questions were pending in Avhich such a head as his 
would be of great advantage to him.* St. Pol at once seizing the 

* The kiiifi added, in conversation witli those around him, that it was only 
the Constable's head that lie desired ; liis body miglit remain where it was. 

M 



260 LOUIS XI. CiiAP. XII. 

drift of this ominous piece of irony, fled to Mons, where he threw 
himself on the protection of Charles. Louis, however, insisted on 
the duke's fulfilling his engagement, and the mihappy Constable 
was delivered over to the French authorities, and conducted to 
the Bastile. His guilt was so manifest that the Parliament had 
little more to do than to pronounce his sentence; on the 10th of 
December, 1475, he was executed on the Place de Greve. This 
was perhaps the boldest blow that had yei been struck against 
the feudal aristocracy. St. Pol, independently of his vast posses- 
sions and j^rsonal influence, was a member of the imperial family 
of Luxemburg, had been married to a sister of the Queen of 
France, and was connected with sevei-al of the sovereign houses 
of Europe. 

§ 8. In return for abandoning the Constable, Charles was per- 
mitted, without opposition from Louis, to take possession of Lor- 
raine ; and, to the great satisfaction of his rival, he proceeded im- 
mediately afterward to make war upon the Swiss, from whom he 
had received several affronts with the secret encouragement of 
Louis. The king seems to have had an instinctive conviction that 
this conflict with " les hautes AUemaignes," as Switzerland was 
then called, would prove the ruin of his enemy; and his joy may 
be imagined on receiving intelligence of the battle of Granson, 
fought March 2, 1476, in which the splendid army of Charles was 
ignominiously routed by the mountaineers, who afterward enrich- 
ed themselves with the incredible treasures of all kinds which form- 
ed the spoil of the Burgundian camp. Within three months after 
the defeat of Granson, Charles was again in the field, and a second 
and far more sanguinary battle ensued at Morat, near the Lake 
of Bienne, Avhen 10,000 of the Burgundians were slain. The 
duke's fortunes now seemed desperate. He was assailed by a 
general outburst of indignation ; symptoms of disaffection began 
to appear among his subjects; Lorraine was instantly lost, and 
the young Duke Rene re-entered Nancy in triumph. Bi-aving his 
fate, Charles gathered the relics of his shattered host and laid siege 
to that city in October, 1476. Kcnc succeeded in levying, by the 
aid of French gold, an army of 20,000 mercenaries from Switzer- 
land, Alsace, and other quarters, and early in January, 14T7, ad- 
vanced to the relief of his capital. The duke's officers in vain im- 
plored him to retire before this vastly superior force ; Charles was 
obstinately resolved to run the hazard of a decisive battle. In 
the engagement which ensued, the Burgundians, deserted and be- 
trayed by the Count of Campobasso, an Italian condottiere to 
whom Charles had rashly given his confidence, were totally 
overwhelmed and dispersed. The unfortunate duke, desperately 
wounded, disappeared in tlie thick of .the fight, and his body was. 



A.D. 1475. LOUIS SEIZES THE DUCHY OF BURGUNDY. 2G7 

not discovered till two days afterward, half immersed in a frozen 
pond, and gi'ievously mutilated. He was honorably buried at 
Nancy by the generous conqueror, Rene of Lorraine.* 

Thus perished this illustrious prince, the last Duke of Burgundy 
of the house of Valois. Louis was immoderately elated by the 
news of an event which swept from his path the most formidable 
and determined of his enemies, and seemed to insure to him the 
undisputed and absolute dominion which had been his constant 
aim. An alluring pi'ospect was thus opened to his ambition, and 
the game before him, full of difficult complications and nicely-bal- 
anced alternatives, was one precisely suited to his taste and genius. 
The hand of the young heiress of Burgundy was eagerly sought 
by several of the reigning houses of Europe, and Louis was no less 
anxious than the rest to secure the prize ; but the dauphin was 
at this time scarcely seven years old, and there were obvious im- 
pediments in the way of his union with a princess of twenty, even 
supposing her own consent to be obtained. The king therefore, 
without abandoning the project of the marriage, resolved to sup- 
port his pretensions by decisive measures of a very different kind. 
No sooner did he receive certain intelligence of the death of Charles 
than he sent directions to the Sire de Craon to take possession, 
with 700 lances, of the duchy of Burgundy and the Franche-Comte, 
and dispatched a second force under the Bastard of Bourbon and 
Philip de Comines to occupy Picardy and Artois. As a pretext 
for this violence, Louis insisted that the fiefs of Burgundy and 
Artois had reverted to the crown by the death of Charles Avithout 
male heirs ; while with the same breath he protested that he would 
watch over the rights of Mary, his kinswoman and god-daughter, 
as over his own, and that he purposed to complete in due time the 
matx'imonial alliance between the two houses which had already 
been arranged with the late duke. The States of Burgundy in 
vain declared that female heirs were not excluded by the tenure 
of that appanage, and that King John, by whom it had been grant- 
ed to the ancestor of Charles, had himself derived it through the 
female line; moreover, that the house of Burgundy still possessed 

* The following is the inscription on the " Croix de Bourgogne," near 
Nancy, marking the spot where the corpse of Charles was found : 
L'an de I'lncarnation 
Mille quatre cent septante six, 
Veille de I'Appanition, ' 
Flit le Due de Bonrgogne occis, 
Et en bataille ici tansce 
Oil croix fut mise ]iour memoire, 
Rene' Due de Lorraine meci 
Rendant a Dieu pour la victoire. 

1 Feast of tho Epiphany, Jan. C. 



268 LOinS XI. Chap.XIL 

a male representative in the person of the Count de Never?, grand- 
son of Duke Jean sans Peur. These arsuments availed nothino- 
against the legions of France, which had already seized all the mil- 
itary posts and chief towns of the duch3^ The States had no al- 
ternative but to submit ; and Louis, after renewing his promise to 
respect the riglits of Mary, and engaging to maintain all the an- 
cient privileges of the province, was recognized as sovereign of 
Burgundy, and united that important territory to his crown. The 
king's officers were no less successful in Picardy and Artois ; those 
districts submitted by the beginning of April, 1477. 

§ 9. Meanwhile another of Louis's agents, the notorious Olivier 
le Dain, was laboring secretly to stir up disaiFection and revolt 
against Mary at Ghent and other towns of Flanders. The tur- 
bulent citizens rose, refused to pay the taxes, clamored loudly for 
the restitution of their popular liberties, and exacted from the 
helpless duchess a promise to dismiss her father's counselors, and 
to do nothing without the advice and sanction of the people in 
their national assembly. Mary, in extreme perplexity, sent two 
of her confidential. servants, the Chancellor Hugonet and the Sire 
d'Imbercourt, as embassadors to Louis, then at Peronne. They 
were charged to offer the restoration of the towns and territory 
ceded by the peace of Arras, with other concessions, on condition 
of his maintaining the truce and desisting from farther claims. 
Louis returned an evasive and hypocritical answer ; and deputies 
arriving soon afterward from the Flemish Pai'liament, the king 
had the inconceivable baseness to place in their hands the letter 
lie had just received from Mary, as a proof that she had no. sin- 
cere purpose to abide by the engagement just contracted with her 
people. The indignant burgesses returned to Ghent, and at a 
public audience reproached Mary in insulting terms with her du- 
plicity. A violent explosion of popular fury was the consequence. 
The unfortunate ministei'S, Hugonet and Imbercourt, were arrest- 
ed, put to the torture, condemned to death after a hurried trial, 
and, in spite of the entreaties of their weeping and terrified mis- 
tress, beheaded almost in her presence. From this moment the 
princess conceived a profound abhorrence' of Louis, and resolved 
that nothing should ever induce her to ally herself with his fami- 
ly- Her subjects seem to have fully shared her feelings, and it 
was with their entire approval that Mary determined to bestow 
her hand on the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, a suitor whom 
she had always distinguished by her personal preference. The 
archduke arrived at Ghent on the IStli of August, and the mar- 
riage, destined to produce results even more momentous and dur- 
able than were contemplated at the time, was solemnized two 
da5'S afterward. Thus did the tortuous cunning of Louis once 



A.D.147G-1482. THE TKEATY OF ARRAS. 269 

more overshoot its mark. Tliis celebrated marriage laid the 
foundation of the greatness of the house of Austria, and became 
the origin of a fierce and bloody rivalry between 'France and the 
empire which lasted for near two hundred years. 

It was during the progress of these events that Louis sacrificed 
another victim to his merciless jealousy of the great nobles, in the 
person of Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, a. grandson of 
the famous Constable d'Armagnac. The duke had been a prom- 
inent actor in the League of the Public Good, as well as in other 
plots against the king, and at different times had thrown himself 
upon the royal. mercy and received a pardon. Louis had, never- 
theless, retained a rancorous hatred against him which could only 
be appeased by his blood ; and, without any renewed cause of 
complaint, the duke was arrested in August, 1476, and thrown 
into the Bastile, where he was confined in an iron cage and tor^ 
tured with extreme cruelty. A touching letter, written by the 
unfortunate prince from his prison in the hope of moving the tyt 
rant to compassion and clemency, totally failed of effect ; he wa& 
tried by a commission of the Parliament, and condemned to death 
upon his own avowal under the torture, as guilty of high treason. 
The sentence was executed at Paris on the 4th of August, 1477. 
The revolting story that the duke's innocent children were placed 
beneath the scaflbld so as to be sprinkled with their father's blood, 
mentioned by no contemporary historian, is now admitted to be an 
invention of writers in a later age. 

§ 10. Although a truce had been made Math Maximilian, de 
sultory hostilities continued for several years between him and 
Louis. Tlie French king, however, at length became convinced 
that he was not likely to succeed farther in his projects against 
the house of Burgundy, and turned his thoughts seriously toward 
a definitive peace. The premature death of the Duchess Mary, in 
March, 1482, contributed to hasten tliis result, since Maximilian, 
after her decease, was no longer x*egarded by the P'lemings as their 
sovereign, and the council of regency, scarcely consulting him, pro- 
ceeded to open direct communications with Louis. The condi- 
tions of the treaty of Arras, signed December 23d, 1482, were- far 
more favorable to France than could have been expected from the 
recent course of events. Marguerite, the infant daughter of Maxi- 
milian and Mary, was affianced to the Dauphin Charles, and placed 
in the hands of Louis to be educated as the future Queen of France. 
A rich dowry was annexed to the contemplated union — tlie coun- ■ 
ties of Artois, Burgundy, Macon, and Auxerre, which were to re- 
vert, however, to the young Duke Philip, brother of Marguerite, 
in case of the failure of issue of the marriage, or of its never taking 
.place. The king abandoned his claims upon French Flanders, ex- 



270 LOUIS XI. CiiAP.XII. 

empted the Netherlands from the contested jurisdiction of the Par- 
liament of Paris, and engaged never again to countenance the tur- 
bulent burgher's of Liege, Utrecht, and other districts in revolt 
against their sovereign. No mention was made in the treaty of 
the Duchy of Burgundy, and that great province w^as thus tacitly 
and irrevocably abandoned to the royal house of F'rance. The new 
arrangement was a direct violation of the treaty of Pequigny, by 
which the dauphin had been betrothed to the Princess Elizabeth, 
daughter of Edward IV. ; that princess had even assumed the title 
of Dauphiness of France. Furious at this outrage, Edward re- 
solved to demand prompt satisfaction at the point of the sword, 
and began to make serious preparations for an invasion of France; 
but his sudden death, in April, 1483, cut short his plans of venge- 
ance ; and Louis, by another stroke of that good fortune which so 
strangely befriended him, was thus relieved of the only remaining 
enemy whom he had cause to fear. 

§ 11. Notwithstanding manifold fluctuations, checks, and re- 
verses, Louis had now good reason to congratulate himself on the 
substantial success of his deep-laid schemes of self-aggrandizement. 
Besides the wide territories acquired by the spoliation of the house 
of Burgundy, the death of Rene of Anjou, in July, 1480, had re- 
stored to the crown that appanage ; and the counties of Maine and 
Provence, bequeathed to the king by Eene after the decease of his 
nephew Charles of Anjou, came into his possession in the course 
of the following year. By this last addition the boundaries of 
France were extended to the Alps. The districts of Roussillon 
and Cerdagne, the counties of Alen^on and Perche, and the long- 
contested duchy of Guienne, were also annexed to the monarchy, 
by means more or less discreditable, during this reign. Of the 
great feudal principalities only one now remained that was at all 
considerable, that of Brittany. The factious nobles, decimated by 
the axe of the executioner, had been cowed into abject submission ; 
and by the terror of his name, by statecraft, and by systematic cor- 
ruption, Louis had acquired a wide-spread influence and ascend- 
ency among foreign powers. 

But scarcely had he reached this proud summit of success and 
dominion when an attack of apoplexy, by Avhich he was visited in 
March, 1480, announced to Louis that he was approaching the ter- 
mination of his strange career. He rallied from this first stroke, 
and, although greatly enfeebled and emaciated, resumed his usual 
habits; but a second fit, in 1481, reduced his powers still farther, 
and from this period his existence became precarious from day to 
day, and his condition, both physical and moral, pitiable in the ex- 
treme. Recoiling in guilty terror from the thought of death, he 
exhausted every artifice and caprice to conceal, both from himself. 



A.D. 1483-1498. DEATH OF LOUlS. 271 

and others, the inevitable advance of the great enemy. At the 
aame time, conscious that his cruelties had made him the object of 
universal detestation, he Avas haunted by suspicions of treachery 
and violence ; and, to escape this peril, immured himself in his 
gloomy fortress-like palace of Plessis-les-Tours, where he Avas no 
less truly a prisoner, and scarcely less miserable, than the meanest 
victim of his tyranny. The castle of Plessis was encircled by a 
broad fosse and solid ramparts, flanked by towei's, in each of which 
a guard of archers was posted night and day. No one passed into 
the interior without an express order from the king ; and the sen- 
tinels were charged to fire indiscriminately upon any one who 
should venture within range of their weapons after nightfall. Liv- 
ing in isolation from his family, Louis received only the occasional 
visits of his daughter Anne and her husband the Sire de Beaujeu ; 
and even they were distrusted and closely watched. The king's 
confidential attendants were his "gossip" Tristan I'Hermite, the 
vmscrupulous instrument of his vindictive crimes, and his physician 
Jacques Coittier, a man of rude and brutal manners, who had com- 
pletely enslaved his patient by practicing on his fears and super- 
stition, and wrung from him during the last few months of his life 
no less a sum than eighty thousand crowns. 

It was in vain that the dying monarch heaped profuse and cost- 
ly ofi^erings upon the shrines of the Virgin and the saints for the 
boon of restoi'ed health. His situation became daily more alarm- 
ing, and on the 25tli of August, 1483, he experienced a third stroke 
of apoplexy, which deprived him of speech and consciousness. Ke- 
covering his senses, he feebly demanded the Sire de Beaujeu, and 
sent him with his last injunctions to his son the dauphin at Am- 
boise. Louis languished some days longer, during which he re- 
tained possession of his faculties, and continued to discourse with 
his attendants on the business and interests of his kingdom. He ex- 
pired on the 30th of August, 1483, in the sixty-first year of his age. 

§ 12. Charles VHL, surnaraed " I'Affable,'' 1483-1498.— 
The crimes and severities of Louis had far more deeply impressed 
the public mind than the solid advantages which his talents had 
conferred on France, and his death was hailed as a Avelcome deliv- 
erance from the yoke of insupportable tyranny. A reaction was 
natural and inevitable. The successor to the throne, Charles 
VHL, Avas a youth scarcely more than thirteen years of age, fee- 
ble and even deformed in pei'son, lamentably ignorant, and Avith 
no promise of mental ability. He had attained his legal majority, 
but it Avas evident that for some years at least the government 
must be administei'ed by others ; and a contest foUoAA^ed for the 
chief authority betAveen the Princess Anne, called the " Dame de 
Beaujeu," to whom Louis on his death-bed had confided the charge 



272 CHARLES VIII. Chap. XII. 

and education of bis son, and Louis, duke of Orleans, the first 
prince of the blood, and heir presumptive to the crown, whom tlie 
late king had married to his younger daughter Jeanne. It was 
agreed to refer the question to the States-General, and that body 
accordingly met at Tours in January, 1484. Lengthened debates 
ensued, and a decree was at last framed, by which the executive 
Council of State was to consist of the princes of the blood, the 
principal ministers of the late king, and twelve other members, to 
be chosen by the existing council from the States themselves. 
Over this council the king was to preside in person, his right and 
competency to exercise his functions being expressly recognized ; 
in his absence the chief place was assigned to the Duke of Or- 
leans ; and next in order were named the Duke of Bourbon, Con- 
stable of France, and the Sire de Beaujeu. The assembly then 
pi'oceeded to the discussion of public grievances, in which they dis- 
played considerable boldness and pertinacity. The representatives 
of the clergy demanded the formal re-establishment and exact ob- 
servance of the Pragmatic Sanction. The nobles complained of 
the too frequent militaiy levies, and required that the command 
of frontier fortresses, and other places of high trust, should not be 
bestowed on foreigners (as in the late reign), but on the most hon- 
orable of their own order. The deputies of the tiers etat protest- 
ed against the exactions of the Pope, the clergy, and the monaster- 
ies, petitioned for a remission of taxes, and prayed that the army 
might be reduced to the footing on which it had been placed by 
Charles VII. Lastly, the three orders concurred in representing 
to the king the urgent duty of convoking the legislative body reg- 
ularly once in two years, agreeably to ancient custom. To this 
spirited manifesto the court returned an evasive reply; and a mod- 
erate subsidy having been voted, not Avithout some difficulty, the 
States-General were dissolved, after a session of something more 
than two months. No farther attention was paid to their de- 
mands ; and the constitutional Legislature thus failed once more to 
conquer its just weight and authority in the conduct of the state. 
§ 13. The Duke of Orleans now imagined himself sure of the 
chief place in the administration of affairs; but he was dexterous- 
ly opposed and defeated by Anne of Beaujeu, who, being confirm- 
ed in the guardianship of the king's person, exercised over him 
such a paramount influence that he spoke and acted solely by her 
dict:ition. The duke soon took up arms, and was supported by 
the Duke of Brittany and a host of other distinguished nobles. 
The royal forces Avere, however, victorious, and the Duke of Or- 
leans was taken prisoner, and committed to strict confinement in 
the castle of Bourges. The Duke of Brittany, who had been the 
soul of the coalition, died shortly afterward (Sept. 9, 1488), leaving 



A.D. 14894490. MARRIAGE OF ANNE AND MAXIMILIAN. 273 

his estates to his elder daughter, Anne of Brittany, then in her 
thirteenth year. 

The opportunity thus offered for effecting the annexation of the 
duchy of Brittany to the French crown was not lost upon the 
vigilant and politic Anne (lately become, by the death of her hus- 
band's elder brother, Duchess of Bourbon). Charles, by her insti- 
gation, immediately claimed the guardianship of the young duch- 
ess, and required that she should not assume her title until the 
question of succession had been judicially determined between her- 
self and the king. These demands being, rejected, a French army 
invaded the duchy, and quickly reduced Brest and other impor- 
tant towns, with the evident purpose of forcing the helpless or- 
phan to an unconditional submission. But these movements ex- 
cited the jealous apprehensions of rival powers; and a league was 
rapidly formed between Maximilian, king of the Epmans, Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella of Spain, and Henry VII. of England, to pre- 
serve the independence of Brittany, and prevent the farther ag- 
grandizement of the French monarchy. Both a Spanish and an 
English force landed on the coast of Brittany in the spring of 
1489. No general engagement took place, but the country Avas 
plundered and wasted alike by friend and foe; and the King of 
England showed so little warmth in the cause he had undertaken, 
that after an inactive and fruitless campaign he recalled his troops. 
The young duchess, anxiously looking round for succor, and be- 
sieged by contending suitors for her hand, was at length induced, 
by the counsels of Dunois, to favor the pretensions of Maximilian 
of Austria ; and a marriage between them Avas secretly solem- 
nized by proxy in the summer of 1490 — all forms being carefully 
observed on the occasion which could tend to make the contract 
binding and irrevocable. Anne now assumed the august title of 
Queen of the Kom'ans, but, to her gi-eat disappointment, I'eceived 
no assistance or proteotion whatever from her betrothed spouse, 
who was occupied by a distant war in Hungary. The absence 
of Maximilian, the parsinaony and apathy of Henry VII., the ex- 
treme distress and confusion that prevailed in Brittany, all con- 
curred to favor the schemes of the French court. The king had 
noAV attained the age of twenty, and, apparently with the full con- 
sent of his sister, took the reins into his own hands. His first act 
of power was to liberate from prison his cousin the Duke of Or- 
leans, for whom he had always entertained sincere i-egard. This 
step produced an immediate reconciliation between that prince 
and Anne of Bourbon ; and, as a farther consequence, the zealous 
adhesion of the poAverful Count of Dunois to the king's interests. 
Louis and Dunois now joined in soliciting the Duchess of Brittany 
to extricate herself from her difficulties by consenting to a mai*- 

]M2 



274 CHARLES VIII. CiiAi'. XII. 

riage with the King of PVance, while at the same moment Charles 
advanced at the head of his ai*my to besiege her at Kennes, where 
she had taken refuge with the scanty remnant of her forces. De- 
fenseless and despairing, Anne yielded at length, though with evi- 
dent reluctance, to this strange combination of hostile menace and 
persuasive intrigue. An armistice was proclaimed ; the gates of 
kennes were thrown open to the French ; and three days after- 
ward Charles and Anne were affianced, with the utmost secrecy, 
in the chapel of the castle. The king quitted Rennes forthwith, 
and every precaution was taken to prevent the truth from trans- 
piring ; it was even given out that the duchess was about to trav- 
erse France in her way to join Maximilian in Germany. The 
king, howevei', met her on her arrival at the chateau of Langeais 
in Touraine, and here their marriage was solemnly celebrated on 
the 16th of December, 1491. This alliance Avas an event of no 
common importance. It was stipulated by the contract that, in 
case of Chai'les's decease without issue, the queen should espouse 
his successor if unmarried, or otherwise the next heir to the crown. 
Brittany was thus incorporated indissolubly with the French em- 
pire ; a great additional bai'rier was secured against the danger 
of invasion from England, and the last strong-hold of feudal inde- 
pendence and disaffection was destroyed. 

These advantages were not to be obtained without some risk ; 
and Charles must have been well aware that by offering so out- 
rageous an affront to the King of the Romans he hazarded the 
outbreak of a general war. Not only had he robbed Maximilian 
of his b]'ide, but he had also grossly injured him in the person of 
his daughter Marguerite, who, betrothed to Charles in infancy, had 
ever since resided in France, and actually bore the title of queen ; 
but the embari-assments of the war in Hungary, and continued 
troubles in Flanders, tended to avert a rupture "which, under other 
circumstances, would have been inevitable. Maximilian controlled 
his resentment, and accepted proposals of accommodation ; the 
young princess was restored to her father, and with her the coun- 
ties of Artois, Franche-Comte, and Charolais, which had been 
ceded as her dowry by the treaty of Arras. On these conditions 
peace was signed at Senlis in May, 1493. 

Henry VII., after a hostile demonstration at Boulogne, gladly 
consented to the ti'eaty of Etaples, by which an enormous treasure 
found its way into his coffers, under the name of indemnity for the 
expenses of the war in Brittany. And, lastly, Charles purchased 
a reconciliation with the powerful sovereigns of Castile and Ara- 
gon by no less a sacrifice than that of Roussillon and Cerdagne, 
which his lixtlier had acquired by way of mortgage thirty years 
before. These provinces were now freely restored, without any 
demand for rep;\yment of tlie sums advanced ])y Louis XI. 



A.D. 1493. EXPEDITION TO ITALY. 275 

§ 14. Charles had weighty reasons for concluding a pacification, 
though at so costly a pi'ice, with the powers with which he had 
been hitlierto at variance. Though of a feeble bodily habit, his 
turn of mind was cliivalrous, romantic, and adventurous. Disdain- 
ing the more ordinary duties of his domestic government, he aban- 
doned himself to dreams of glory and dominion to be won by dis- 
tant enterprise, and panted to achieve for himself a name like that 
of Alexander or Charlemagne. The rights of the Angevin princes 
to the kingdom of Naples had descended to him from his father, 
to whom they had been transmitted by the last direct heir of that 
house, Charles, count of Maine and Provence. The cautious and 
clear-sighted Louis had forborne to assert his claim, and studious- 
ly kept himself aloof from the maze of Italian politics. His son, 
yielding to an undisciplined and impetuous temper, pursued an 
opposite policy, altogether inconsistent with the true interests of 
France. He not only determined to vindicate his pretensions to 
the Neapolitan throne, but cherished the extravagant project of 
expelling the Turks from Constantinople, and re-establishing a 
Christian empire in the East ; after which he pi'oposed to enter 
Palestine, and restore in the Holy City the monarchy founded by 
his crusading ancestors. 

It is not likely, however, that these wild schemes would ever 
have been seriously prosecuted, had not the peculiar circumstances 
of Italy furnished at this moment a fair pretext, not to say a strong 
temptation, for the armed interference of a foreign power. The 
government of ]Milan was in the hands of Ludovico Sforza, called 
the Moor, who had usurped it from his nephew Gian Galeazzo 
Sforza, a young prince of no capacity. The Duchess of Milan, a 
granddaughter of the reigning King of Naples, invoked the assist- 
ance of her family to restore her husband's authority; whereupon 
Ludovico, alarmed by the menaces of a powerful league against 
liim, dispatched an embassy to Charles VIII., exhorting him to 
make good his undoubted title to the throne of Naples, and en- 
gaging to support him with all the resources at his command. The 
Duchess of Savoy, the Marquis of Saluces, and the republic of Ge- 
noa, offered him every fecility for the passage of the Alps ; and it 
was represented that the central Italian States, and especially the 
court of Rome, were cordially disposed to range themselves on the 
side of the French against the usurping house of Aragon. These 
proposals found but a too prompt response in the mind of Charles, 
already fully determined on the expedition. The Duchess of Boux-- 
bon, and other disinterested and experienced counselors, in vain 
labored, by urgent remonstrances, to deter him from his headstrong 
project. He gave his final orders for the concentration of his 
army at Lyons ; and advancing from that city to Grenoble, cross- 



27G CHAIiLES VIII. Chap. XII. 

ed the Mont Genevre on the 2d of September, 1494, and arrived 
on the 5 th at Turin. The army of invasion consisted of more than 
50,000 men, with a numerous train of excellent artillery. At 
■ Asti Charles was joined by Ludovico Sforza, Avho conducted him 
to the frontiers of Tuscany. He was received at Pisa with gen- 
eral acclamations; but on reaching Florence on the 17th of No- 
vember he soon gave offense to the high-spirited magistrates of 
that city by affecting to treat them as a conqueror, and insisting 
on conditions derogatory to their honoi-. "If such be j^our de- 
mands," exclaimed the Gonfalonier Capponi, " sound your trum- 
pets, and we will ring our bells !" Charles, intimidated by this 
boldness, at once consented to more moderate terms ; and by the 
intervention of the celebrated Reformer Savonarola, a treaty of 
strict alliance was concluded between the republic and France. 
The French quitted Florence on the 28th of November, and after 
a long detention before the walls of Rome, occasioned by the vacil- 
lation and duplicity of the reigning pontiff, the infamous Alex- 
ander VI., they triumphantly entered the Eternal City on the 31st 
of December. The Pope now found himself compelled to pi'om- 
ise to Charles the investiture of the kingdom of Naples, Avith a 
saving clause respecting the rights of others ; he also placed in his 
hands certain fortresses and important hostages (including his own 
son Caesar Borgia) until the completion of the conquest. The 
same uniform success attended the farther progress of the invaders ; 
the Neapolitans, struck with consternation, scarcely attempted re- 
sistance. Alphonso II., who had but lately succeeded his father 
Ferdinand I., abdicated the throne as soon as the French approach- 
ed his capital, and fled to Sicily, Avhere he shortly afterward died. 
His son, Ferdinand H., finding himself deserted by his troops and 
threatened by the insurgent populace, withdrew in his turn pre- 
cipitately from Naples ; and on the next day (February 22, 1495) 
Charles and his army entered the city amid universal demonstra- 
tions of joy, the people hailing him as their deliverer and lawful 
sovereign. 

Intoxicated by this rapid, easy, and brilliant triumph, Charles 
gave himself up to every kind of voluptuous enjoyment, totally 
neglected business, and took no pains to secure and consolidate 
his authority in his newly-acquired dominions. Public offices and 
dignities were distributed exclusively among his French subjects, 
while the native aristocracy were treated with coldness and dis- 
dain ; so that feelings of bitter hostility were quickly engendered 
against him among all parties. Two months of frivolity and mal- 
administration had scarcely passed when the king received notice 
of a threatening coalition formed against him in Nortliern Italy. 
His pride and i-ashness were about to be visited Avith signal chas- 



A.D. 1495. BATTLE OF FORNOVO. 277 

tisement. Lndovico Sforza, jealous and alarmed at the extraoi- 
dinaiy success of his royal ally, had induced the chief powers of 
Europe to join him in a league for cutting off the retreat of the 
French from Italy, and forcing them either to unconditional sur- 
render or to total destruction. This compact was signed at Venice 
on the 31st of March ; and timely information of it was forward- 
ed to Charles by Philip de Comines, his envoy at that place. The 
king instantly determined to evacuate Naples. Having gratified 
his vanity by the gorgeous pageant of a coronation, in which he 
assumed the insignia of an imaginary Empire of the East, he took 
his departure from the city on the 30th of May, leaving one half 
of his army as a gari'ison imder his cousin the Count of Montpen- 
sier, whom he appointed viceroy of the kingdom. EApidly trav- 
ersing the Roman states, the French gained the Tuscan border ; 
and finding that Florence was in a state of revolutionary com- 
motion, turned aside to Pisa, in which city they left a garrison. 
With the least possible delay they then pressed forward to the 
passes of the Apennines, hoping to reach Lombardy before the 
confederates could assemble in sufficient force to oppose their de- 
scent. On debouching, however, from the mountains, they found 
the allied forces, under Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, strongly 
posted on the lliver Taro, and blocking the road to Parma. The 
enemy's numbers exceeded 35,000, while the French could scarce- 
ly muster 10,000. Charles, recoiling before this immense superi- 
ority, endeavored to negotiate, but in vain ; and on the 6th of July 
the two armies encountered at the village of Fornovo. The French 
gained a brilliant victory ; 3500 Italians fell beneath the swords 
of the victors, or perished in the Taro. The loss on the side of 
the French is said to have barely reached 200. The retreat of 
Charles into Lombardy was now secure. On reaching Vercelli 
he was rejoined by the Duke of Orleans, and immediately negoti- 
ated a peace with Ludovico Sforza, who was left in quiet posses- 
sion of Milan. Hastily repassing the Alps by tlie same route by 
Avhich he had entered Italy fourteen months before, the French 
monarch arrived in safety at Lyons on the 9th of November, 1495. 
§ 15. Meanwhile the French generals left at Naples maintained 
a brief but gallant contest with King Ferdinand, whose forces, 
mostly Spanish, were commanded by Gonsalvo de Cordova, after- 
ward so justly celebrated throughout Europe as " the Great Cap- 
tain." 'J'he Neapolitans sustained a severe defeat at Seminara in 
Calabria, and Ferdinand and Gonsalvo were compelled to seek 
safety by crossing into Sicily. But the French neglected to im- 
prove their victory ; and when, a few weeks later, the Spanish 
fleet, with Ferdinand on board, appeared off Naples, the fickle 
populace rose furiously against the French, cut them down with- 



278 CHARLES VIII. Chap. XII. 

out mercy in the streets, and restored Ferdinand to his palace 
amid general acclamations. Montpensier, the French viceroy, 
signed a capitulation, and marclied out of Naples with the re- 
mains of his army ; but the struggle was prolonged for some time 
in other parts of the country, until at last Montpensier, blockaded 
in the small town of Atella, was reduced to extremity by want 
of provisions, and surrendered a second time, on condition that he 
and his troops should be permitted to return immediately to France. 
An epidemic fever broke out in the sea-ports where they were 
about to embark, and the brave Montpensier, with the greater 
part of his officers and soldiers, was carried off by the distemper. 
A mere fragment of the gallant army of occupation landed to- 
ward the close of autumn on the shores of France. 

Although the immediate results of this memorable invasion 
were superficial and transient, it marks an era in the history of 
France and of Europe. The system of feudalism being now final- 
ly overthrown, the resources of the French crown were no longer 
wasted in petty conflicts with turbulent vassals, but were concen- 
trated for efforts on a grand scale at a distance from home. The 
energies of the nation were once more directed toward foreign con- 
quest ; and this change produced a different relation of the pow- 
ers of Europe toward each other ; they began to act as members 
of one great commonwealth, all alike interested in preventing the 
preponderance of any one state over the rest. Hence arose new 
combinations and a new character of policy, distinctly separating 
mediaeval from modern times. Problems now presented them- 
selves in quick succession, the development of which will claim 
our attention in the sequel of this history ; problems to which the 
experience and wisdom of more than three centuries have not suf- 
ficed to give a final solution. And it will be found that their com- 
plications are traceable in very great measure to that thirst for 
Italian domination which was excited in France by the dazzling, 
though chimerical and abortive expedition of Charles VIII. 

§ 16. Nothing more of importance remains to be noticed during 
this reign. After his return to France the king relapsed into his 
usual habits of intemperance, licentious indulgence, and neglect of 
all the great concerns of state. Kousing himself for a moment 
from his apathy, in the summer of 1497 he fitted out an expedi- 
tion under Trivulzio against Ludovico Sforza, and made a fruit- 
less and inglorious attack upon Genoa ; this was followed by a 
truce with the emperor and the other powers which had signed 
the league of Venice, and a separate treaty was soon afterward 
concluded between France and Spain. It is said that on this oc- 
casion Ferdinand the Catholic gave the first intimation of his de- 
sign for tlie subjugation of Naples, by means of a combination be- 



A.D. 1498. 



DEATH OF CHARLES VIII. 



279 



tween the French and Spanish governments, which was carried 
into execution ^ome years later. 

Charles, though scarcely twenty-eight years of age, had seriously 
impaired his health by persisting in luxurious excesses of all kinds. 
Finding his strength declining, he appears to have commenced 
during the last year of his life a salutary change of conduct — 
breaking off all irregularities, and devoting careful attention to 
various measures of public reformation, ecclesiastical, financial, and 
judicial. A sudden and premature death surprised him in the 
midst of these laudable occupations. Passing through a dark and 
gloomy gallery in the chateau of Amboise, his favorite residence, 
Charles struck his forehead with violence against the low door- 
way; and, although he apparently recovered from the shock, he 
Avas attacked some hours afterward by a fit of apoplexy which 
proved mortal. He expired on the 7th of April, 1498. His loss 
was deeply regretted by his family and immediate attendants, to 
whom he had much endeared himself by his aifable demeanor, and 
the uniform gentleness and kindness of his character. Charles 
left no posterity; his children by Anne of Brittany, four in num- 
ber, all died in infancy ; and the crown passed in consequence 
from the direct line of the family of Valois to the collateral branch 
of Valois-Orleans. • 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE STATES-GENERAL. 

The first convocation of the States-General 
— the constitutional representative assembly 
in France under the ancient monarchy — dates 
from the reign of I'hilip IV., in the year 1302. 
Tlie king's object in taking this stej) was to 
fortify himself by a strong expression of pub- 
lic opinion at the commencement of his for- 
midable contest with Pope Boniface VIII., 
and to obtain the funds necessaiy for the en- 
terprise. No other business was transacted 
on this occasion ; the session was very brief, 
and the deputies exliibited a spirit of prompt 
and unqualified compliance with the royal 
will. But the epoch is one of immense im- 
portance, since it marks the first recognition 
of the Tiers Jitat, or Commons, as one of the 
three legitimate orders of the state. It was 
then first associated in tlie national Legisla- 
ture with the two pnvih'fted orders— tlie no- 
blesse and the clergy. Tlie popular element 
thus introduced into the constitution was 
found constantly oyi the side nf roiialtii, in 
opposition to the great feudal aristocracy. 

The harmony originally subsisting between 
the crown and the commons was dis^^olved by 
the troubles which broke out during the En- 
glish wars of the 14th century and the re- 
gency of Charles V. In the States-General 
of 115T we find the Tiers Etat in direct con- 



flict with the royal authority. From this 
time forward the States-General signalized 
tliemselves, whenever they were summoned, 
by energetic demands, protests, and remon- 
strances, which in most instances were in- 
effectual, but were occasionally taken into 
favorable consideration by the crown, and 
resulted in advantageous measures. The 
states-General of 14S4 demanded that they 
should be assembled at regular periods, and 
that the taxes should be levied cqitally upon 
all classes witliout distinction. In other cel- 
ebrated instances, as at Orleans in 1561, and 
at Blois in 157T, the representations urged by 
the different orders in their cahiers contained 
many wise and salutary counsels, and were 
to some extent improved and acted upon by 
the government. • 

Nevertheless, these n.itional assemblies fail- 
ed to secui'e permanently and systematically 
the power of legislation, and exercised no 
contrnUing influence over the general admin- 
istration. In circumstances of difficulty they 
beirayed a want of tact, judgment, and prac- 
tical ability, which was fatal to the success of 
their proceedings. After a struggle of three 
centuries they found themselves still alto- 
gether dependent on the arbitrary will of the 
sovereign, both as to the period of their con- 
vocation, and as to the amount of attention 
paid to their requests and decisions. Above 



280 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. XII. 



all, they never acquired the exclusive pow- 
er of imposing taxc.% and thus of supplying 
or withholding the neces.-=ary means of gov- 
ernment. The States-General of Orleans, 
in 1439, granted to Charles VII. the right 
of levying in pei2>etuitii a taille nominally 
amounting to twelve hundred thousand li- 
vres, to be applied to the maintenance of a 
staniling ai-my. This precedent gradually 
enabled the French nionarchs to raise the 
revenue by their own prerogative, without re- 
course to the national representatives. The- 
oretically it continued to be maintained that 
no tax could be lawfully imposed but by the 
three orders assembled in the States-General; 
hut this was totally disregarded in practice. 
The sovereign summoned the States-General 
only when it happened to suit his pleasure or 
convenience ; and when they were permitted 
to meet, their deliberations were seldom at- 
tended by any practical advantage to the 
state. In 101-1 the deputies of the Tiers Etat 
assumed a bolder and loftier tone than on any 
former occasion ; they presented a long list of 
searching refomis required in all branches of 
the administration — .jinancial, judicial, mili- 
tary, and commercial; butfrom this date, 1614, 
their meetings were discontinued. Richelieu 
had recourse to a different kind of council, 
called the Assemblji of jS'otable.--', consisting 
of noblemen, prelates, judges, magistrates, 
and a small number of the principal citizens, 
all named by the king himself. The constitu- 
tional Legislature remained in abeyance for 
mijre than a century and a half, until it once 
more met at the memorable crisis of 1TS9. 

After this brief sketch of the history of the 
States-General, something must be said as to 
the mode of electing the deputies, and the 
c induct of their proceedings. The right of 
siuumoning tlie States belonged, as already 
stated, to the king alone, in .spite of all efforts 
that had been made to establish regular meet- 
ings at fixed intervals. Letters patent were 
addressed for this purpose to the royal bailtis 
and governors of provinces, specifyiug the 
cause, time, and place of the proposed meet- 
ing. The baillis and governors gave notice 
to the nobility and clergy, who thereupon at 
once elected their representatives by a direct 
nomination. The deputies of the commons., 
however, were chosen in a different manner. 
The peasants, assembled in their villages un- 
der the presidency of the privots .and other 
g.ivernment officials, named the electors, to 
whom they intrusted their cahiers, or lists of 
grievances. The electors met afterward at 
the chief town of eacli hailliagc, examined the 
cahiers of the pprsantry, and drew up from 
them one general cahier for the ivhole elec- 
toral district. They then proceeded to name 
the deputies who were to form the Tiers Etat 
in the States-Gener.al. Their ?iMJ7(bcr varied 
from time to time, and was of little import- 
ance, inasmuch as in all cases of a division 
the votes of the assembly were taken hy or- 
ders, and not individually. Besides the mem- 



bers thus elected, the ministers of tlie crown 
had seats in the States-General by virtue of 
their office ; the same privilege was also cUiim- 
ed by the municipality (coinirui.'e) of I'aris, 
the University of faris, and the judges of the 
Parlianient. When the king held a lit dc 
junticL\ the princes nf the blond, the peers of 
France, and all the grand functionaries of the 
court were likewise entitled to be present. 

At the first sitting of the assembled States 
the sovereign generally appeared in person, 
and opened the proceedings with a few formal 
words, after which the Chancellor of France 
made a harangue setting forth at length the 
piu-poses of the meeting. The president of 
each order replied, the nobles and clergy re- 
maining seated and covered during his speech, 
while the commons stood up and bared their 
heads. The three orders then retired to their 
separate chambers, and commenced the com- 
position of their cahiers de doleanccs. The 
memorials forwarded bj- the bailliages were 
reduced to twelve, being the number of the 
great governments of the kingdom, viz., the 
Isle of France, Normandy, Picardy, Cham- 
pagne, Brittany, Burgundy, Lyonnais, Dau- 
pliine, Provence, Auvergne, Languedoc, and 
Guienne ; and out of these twelve one caliier 
was ultimately formed by each of the estates, 
to convey to the king the joint expression of 
their wishes, complaints, and counsels. A 
second royal sitting was next held for the 
presentation of these cahiers; after which 
the assembly separated, without waiting for 
any replytfrom the crown to its demands. A 
pecuniary vote was usually obtained from the 
deputies before their dismissal. Hence it ap- 
pears that the States-General never exercised 
in any i-eal sense the functions of a delibera- 
tive and legislative body ; they simply otfercd 
suggestions to the monarch, which he accept- 
ed or rejected as he thought proper. Legisla- 
tion proceeded from the crown alone ; if any 
regard was paid to the voice of popular opin- 
ion, this was a matter of condesceyision., or of 
expediency and policy, on the part of the su- 
preme power. 

It is thought probable that in primitive 
times each separate ^JTOvince of France pos- 
sessed its local states, which were held reg- 
ularly every year, and voted the taxes and 
subsidies recjuired for the public service. In 
process of time the greater part of these pro- 
vincial assemblies were superseded by the 
States-General ; some of them, however, con- 
tinued to subsist, and were not aboli -hed till 
the outbreak of the Revolution. The prov- 
inces which preserved their states were those 
of Languedoc, Brittany, Burgundy, Provence, 
Dauphine, Artois, Flanders, and Bjarn. 
'J'liese were styled, in consequence, 2W//s 
d'e'n!^■^, the other parts of the kingdom being 
called, in contradistinction, jiays u'e'ectioil. 

One of the best works of reference on the 
subject of the States-General is that of M. 
Rathery, Histoire dcs Elats Generaux., Paris, 
1S45. 



Chap. XIII. GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF VALOIS-OELEANS. 281 



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Le Petit Chdtelet at Paris. 

BOOK V. 
THE EENAISSANCE AND WAES OFEELIGIOK 

PKOM THE ACCESSION OF LOCIS XII. TO THE DEATH OF HENRY HI. 

A.i>. 1498-1589. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

LOUIS XII. 3498-1515. 



§ 1. Louis XII. ; his Character; his Marriage with Anne of Brittany. § 2. 
Louis invades and conqnevs the Milanese ; Battle of Novara ; Captivity 
and Death of Ludovico Sforza. § 3. Treaty of Louis and Ferdinand the 
Catholic for the Partition of Naples ; Conquest of Naples ; Rupture be- 
tween Louis and Ferdinand ; Defeat of the French. § 4. Marriage of the 
Princess Claude with Francis of Angouleme ; Reconciliation of Louis with 
Ferdinand of Spain. § 5. League of Cambrai ; Battle of Agnadel. § 6. 
War between Louis and Pope Julius II.; the "Holy League." § 7. Gas- 
ton de Foix; Battle of Ravenna; the French evacuate Italy; Death of 
Julius II. § 8. Treaty between France and Venice ; Battle of La Riotta ; 
the English invade Picardy; Battle of the Spurs. § 9. Peace with Spain 
and the Empire ; Marriage of Louis to the Princess jNIary of England ; his 
Death. 

§ 1. The Diikc of Orleans, who succeeclec! Cliarles YIII. iindei- 
the title of Louis XII., was grandson of the duke assas^^inated by 



A.D. 1498, 1499. MARRIAGE OF LOUIS AND ANNE. 

Jean sans Peur in 1407, and great-grandson of King Charles , . 
The new king possessed considerable talent and energy of charac- 
ter ; he ascended the throne in the prime *of life, and soon render- 
ed himself popular among all classes by his singular moderation, 
tact, and judgment. His former rival, Anne of Bourbon, yvas at 
once distinguished by special marks of his favor and regard ; La 
Tremouille, the general by whom Louis had been taken prisoner 
(see p. 272), was confirmed in all his dignities, and preferred to 
commands of the highest trust and importance. The magistrates 
of Orleans, who sent a deputation to ask pardon of the king for 
indignities Avhich he had suffered while a prisoner in that city, 
were dismissed Avith the generous and celebrated answer that '' it 
did not become the King of France to resent the injui'ies of the 
Duke of Orleans." Louis appointed as his principal minister, im- 
mediately on his accession, George d'Amboise, cardinal archbfshop 
of Rouen, who had been the attached friend of his early years ; 
the other chief officers of the crown were retained in their posts. 
The widowed Queen Anne, who had always shown herself 
proudly jealous of her ancestral inheritance as Duchess of Brit- 
tany, retired to Nantes soon after the death of her husband, and 
resumed the independent government of the duchy. By the terms 
of her marriage-contract she was bound to espouse the successor 
of Charles, supposing his hand to be free ; but Louis was in no 
condition to demand the fulfillment of the promise. Jeanne, his 
Avife, to Avhom he had been united by the crafty policy of Louis 
XL,Avas still alive, and, though unfortunately deformed in person, 
was a princess of great merit and stainless reputation. Tliey were 
without children ; and it therefore became absolutely necessary, if 
Brittany was to be preserved to the French crown, to procure a 
dissolution of the marriage. Application was made to the Pope 
for a divorce; and Alexander, avIio was not a man to hesitate at 
any infamy, provided he obtained his price, readily agreed to pro- 
nourwce the desired sentence in return for certain honors and re- 
wards to be conferred upon his son Caesar Borgia. That young 
prince, who had just renounced his place in the college of cardi- 
nals, Avas immediately created Duke of Valentinois in Dauphine, 
Avith a munificent pension ; and after a scandalous trial before 
three papal commissioners, the decree annulling the king's mar- 
riage Avas published on the 17th of December. On the 6th of 
January, 1499, Louis wedded Anne of Brittany in the chapel of 
the castle at Nantes. Anne, ever firmly tenacious of her heredit- 
ary rights, stipulated on this occasion that the second child of the 
marriage, Avhetlier male or female, should succeed to the duchy of 
Brittany ; that, in case of the queen's dying Avithout heirs before 
the king, Louis .should retain the duchy during his life, but that 



284 LOUIS Xir. Chap. XIII. 

afterward it slioukl revert to the descendants of its ancient line of 
native princes. The whole patronage and administration of tho 
duchy "were to remain exclusively in the hands of the queen. 

§ 2. No sooner was this important affair concluded than Louis 
began ,to make preparations for prosecuting the supposed rights of 
his house in Italy, bequeathed to him by his predecessor. He laid 
claim not only to the throne of Naples, but also to the duchy of 
Milan, as the representative of his grandmother ValentinaViscon- 
ti, only daughter of the last duke of that family — a title more than 
questionable, since Milan had been originally granted to the Vis- 
-conti with an express provision excluding the succession througli 
females. Admonished by the example of Chai"le§ VIII., Louis took 
his preliminary measures with great circumspection and prudence. 
He had already purchased the concurrence of the Pope ; and by 
successive negotiations, skillfully conducted, he secured either the 
co-operation or the neutrality of the Emperor Maximilian, of Fer- 
dinand of Spain, of Venice, Florence, and Savoy. Matters being 
in this promising train, the French army, led by Stuart d'Aubigny 
and Trivulzio, crossed the Alps in August, 1499, and descended 
on the plains of Lombai'dy without opposition. Ludovico Sforza, 
isolated and defenseless, was totally unable to arrest their prog- 
ress ; and finding himself hemmed in between the Venetians and 
the French, had no resource but flight. He retreated precipitate- 
ly to the Tyrol, and claimed the protection of Maximilian, with 
whom he was connected by marriage. The French generals en- 
tered Milan in triumph on the 14th of September, without having 
fired a hostile shot. 

Louis, charmed with this brilliant success, made his appearance 
in Milan on the 6th of October, and remained there severat weeks, 
exercising all the rights of sovereignty, and doing all in his power 
to consolidate his conquest. But he had scarcely returned to 
France when symptoms of irritation appeared among the Milanese, 
occasioned by the injudicious and oppressive conduct of Trivulzio, 
whom the king had appointed viceroy of the duchy. A revolt was 
quickly organized : the population of Milan rose in a body on the 
25th of January, 1500, and expelled Trivulzio from the city. Lu- 
dovico Sforza, at the head of a large force of Swiss mercenaries, 
reappeared in the field at the same nT,oment, and recovered his 
capital. Louis displayed remarkable vigor and prompatude in 
this emergency. The Cardinal d'Amboiso and La Tscmouille 
were dispatched instantly to Lombardy Avith strong re-enforce- 
ments, including a body of 10,000 Swiss, and Ludovico and his 
troops were blockaded in Novara. The Swiss, at this time at the 
height of their military reputation, and accounted tlie best toot-sol- 
diers in Europe, composed more than the half of both the Hostile 



A.D. loOd, 1501. TREATY FOR THE PARTITION OF NAPLES. 285 

armies. On finding themselves ai-rayecl against each other, they 
showed great reluctance to engage ; and the leaders of the contin- 
gent in the service of Ludovico, gained over by bribes from the 
French generals, at length consented, to their deep dishonor, to 
betray the unfortunate Ludovico to his enemies, and then retire 
under a safe-conduct to their own country. Ludovico v^^as arrest- 
ed and sent into France, where Louis had the cruelty to immure 
him in one of the dismal cachots in the castle of Loches. He lan- 
guished fourteen years in captivity ; and on being informed of his 
restoration to freedom at the end of that time, expired from the 
effects of the sudden shock on his worn and shattered frame. Mi- 
lan was now tranquillized under the rule of a more prudent vice- 
roy, and became a province of the P^rench empire. 

§ 3. But the ambitious views of Louis we're directed to a far- 
ther object of more difficult achievement — the annexation of Na- 
ples to his crown. The main obstacles to this enterprise were the 
power, ability, and strong counter-pretensions of Ferdinand the 
Catholic, by whom this splendid acquisition had already been torn 
from the feeble grasp of Charles VIII. Fearing to place himself 
in open antagonism to this formidable potentate, Louis conceived 
the design of securing his friendship and co-operation by arrang- 
ing with him an equal partition of the contemplated spoil. By a 
singular coincidence, the same idea had suggested itself at the 
same moment to the mind of Ferdinand. The two monarchs were 
not long in coming to an understanding ; and by the treaty of 
Gi-anada (signed November 11, 1500) it was covenanted that Na- 
ples should be invaded simultaneously by the armies of France 
and Spain, and that the kingdom, when subdued, should be divided 
between the conquerors — Louis taking possession of the northern 
provinces, with the title of King of Naples and Jerusalem, while 
the southern part of the peninsula, Apulia and Calabria, Avas to fall 
to the lot of Ferdinand. In pursuance of this compact — one of 
the worst instances of deliberate barefaced treachery to be found 
in history — the French army, under Stuart d'Aubigny, marched 
from Lombardy in the end of May, 1501, and, without encounter- 
ing any obstacle, reached Kome on the 25th of June. Here the 
Pope, whom the two monarchs had induced to become an accom- 
plice in their iniquitous scheme, announced by a bull the depriva- 
tion of Frederick of Naples, and transferred his dominions, as a 
fief of the Holy See, to the sovereigns of France and Spain. Gon- 
salvo of Cordova, who commanded the Spanish forces, threw off 
the mask at the same moment, and acqwainted the unhappy prince, 
who had received him unsuspectingly as an ally, with the real ob- 
ject of his presence in Ital3\ Fi-ederick saw at once that resist- 
ance was useless, and resigned himself magnanimously to his fate. 



286 LOUIS XII. Chap. XIII. 

Preferring to surrender to an openly-declared foe than to a per- 
jured kinsman and perfidious ally, he opened communications with 
d'Aubigny, and made an arrangement by which he ceded all his 
sovereign rights at Naples to the royal house of France. Fred- 
erick, having delivered up his capital and the chief fortresses of 
the kingdom, was permitted to embark with his family for France, 
Avhere Louis conferred upon him the county of jSIaine, with a year- 
ly pension of 30,000 livres. Here he resided in obscurity for 
nearly three years, and died at Tours in 1504. 

The kingdom of Naples now lay at the feet of the confederates ; 
but, as might have been foreseen, it was not easy to settle the de- 
tails of the partition-treaty, and disputes soon arose about the di- 
vision of the spoil. Tliese disputes led to open hostilities in the 
summer of 1502 ; and in the following year Gonsalvo gained two 
decisive victories over the P^rench. He followed np his success 
ly marching at once upon Naples, and, after a brief resistance, 
took possession of that capital on the 14th of May. The fortresses 
of Venosa and Gaeta, together with a few other towns of less im- 
portance, were all that now remained in the hands of the French. 

Louis, though astounded and highly irritated by these sudden 
reverses, was by no means disheartened, and used every exertion 
to provide the means of renewing the contest. He raised, Avithin 
a few months, no less than three new armies, one of which was 
destined to invade Spain by Fuenterabia, the second attacked 
Koussillon, while the third, commanded by the veteran La Tre- 
mouille, was dispatched aci'oss the Alps to efi^ect a junction with 
the broken remnant of the army of Naples. At this crisis occur- 
red the death of Pope Alexander VI., by a sudden and well-merit- 
ed catastrophe, befitting the enormous crimes and scandals of his 
life. La Tremouille and his forces were now detained for several 
weeks in th.e Roman States by the ambitious intrigues of the Car- 
dinal d'Amboise, Avho strove by intimidation and bribery to obtain 
his elevation to tlie pontifical chair. This delay proved fatal to 
the French expedition. La Tremouille was attacked by malaria, 
and resigned his command ; the Marquis of Mantua, who succeed- 
ed him, though a brave soldier, was of inferior talent as a general. 
He relieved the garrison of Gaeta, but, having lost much time aft- 
erward through hesitation and the setting in of the rainy season, 
was attacked at a disadvantage by Gonsalvo on the banks of the 
Garigliano on the 27th of December, 1503 — a day memorable for 
one of the most terrible disasters that ever befell the French arms. 
The fugitives were pursued? to Gaeta, which place surrendered on 
the 1st of January, 1504, on condition that all the French remain- 
ing in the Neapolitan states, including the prisoners, should be al- 
lowed to return freely to France witli their arms and baggage. 



A.D. 1504-laOG. MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS CLAUDE. 287 

Few, however, of these gallant soldiers regained their native land ; 
the greater part, including many superior officers, perished eitlier 
of their wounds, or from the effects of fatigue, privation, and cha- 
grin. A truce with Spain was immediately arranged ; but the 
inglorious discomfiture of his pi-ojects upon Naples was so acutely 
felt by Louis that it brought on an alarming illness, and at one 
time his life was despaired of. 

§ 4. Still liankering after his lost ascendency in Italy, Louis 
concluded at Blois, in September, 1504, a triple treaty with the 
emperor and the Archduke Philip, the provisions of which, though 
designed to remain secret, shortly afterward transpired. By its 
first article the contracting parties formed a coalition against Ven- 
ice, which was to be stripped of large territories in Northern Italy 
and the Koraagna ; by tlie second, the emperor granted to Louis, 
for a payment of 200,000 francs, the investiture of the duchy of 
Milan, to descend, in default of male heirs, to the Princess Claude, 
already affianced to the young Prince Charles ; lastly, it was cov- 
enanted that the dowry of the French princess should consist of 
Brittany, Genoa, Asti, the county of Blois, and, in case of the death 
of Louis without heirs male, of the duchy of Burgundy in addition. 

The only explanation to be offered of a compact so manifestly 
prejudicial to the interests of France is the impaired state of health 
imder which Louis labored at this time. The queen, whose mind 
was set upon marrying her daughter to one evidently destined to 
become the most powerful monarch of his age, availed herself of 
her husband's feeble condition to urge, with extreme earnestness, 
the conclusion of the Austrian match ; but the popular voice, 
strongly opposed to that arrangement, made itself heard effectual- 
ly on this occasion ; and Louis, believing himself in extremity,, was 
prevailed on by the Cardinal d'Amboise to execute a will, direct- 
ing that, in accordance with the wishes of the nation, his daughter 
should be united to Francis of Angouleme, the heir presumptive 
to the throne. Upon the king's recovery from his illness this act 
"\¥as publicly proclaimed and renewed. The States-General (as- 
sembled at Tours in May, loOC) petitioned the king, whom they 
saluted by the enviable title of the "Father of his People," to 
give effect to a policy so cordially approved by the nation ; and, 
in spite of the queen's importunate remonsti-ances, the betrothal 
of the youthful pair was immediately celebrated at the chateau 
of Plessis. 

By thus breaking with Austria, Louis paved the way to- recon- 
ciliation with his successful opponent, Ferdinand of Spain, who 
cherished a mean jealousy of his son-in-law Philip, the heir of his 
dominions. Ferdinand, now a widower, proposed a marriage be- 
tween himself and a niece of the King of France, Germaine de 
Foix ; the offer was accepted, and Louis agreed to cede in favor 



288 LOUIS .XII. Chap. XI fl. 

of the young princess all his claims to the sovereignty of Naples, 
which crown was to descend to the children of the marriage. 
Thus, by a singular revolution of policy, France and Spain found 
themselves united in a strict alliance, while the Emperor Maximil- 
ian, indignant at the offensive rupture of the treaties of Blois, ifi- 
trigued Avith eager animosity against Louis whenever an opportu- 
nity occurred of injuring his interests. 

§ 5. Maximilian convoked a diet at Constance, and demanded 
subsidies for the purpose of expelling the French from Milan and 
re-establishing the dynasty of the Sforzas ; he labored to inflame 
the Venetians against Louis by revealing to the senate the terms 
of the treaty concluded against them at Blois ; and although that 
body steadily refused to join him in attacking a monarch with 
whom they were on terms of strict amity, they were induced to 
conclude, in June, 1508, a general truce, to Avhich the King of 
France was not invited to become a party. 

This slight irritated Louis, and is said to have been his motive 
for engaging in the series of obscure negotiations which followed, 
and which produced, towai-d the close of the same year, the cele- 
brated League of Cambeat. But it is evident that Louis had 
long before conceived hostile projects against Venice, since a com- 
bination for the purpose of humbling that proud republic had form- 
ed one of the principal stipulations of the treaty of Blois ; and 
there is no doubt that the real feeling which actuated all the par- 
ties to the league of Cambrai was an envious jealousy of the extra- 
ordinary wealth, power, and grandeur enjoyed by the " Queen of 
the Adriatic," and a determination to arrest her progress toward 
a more extended and predominant authority in Italy. The policy 
of Louis in this instance, as in so many othei'S, was most mistaken 
and unwise. ^ I'he power of Venice, to the possessor of the Milan- 
ese, was so far from being obnoxious or injurious, that it was high- 
ly advantageous, as proving a barrier against the ambition and en- 
croachments of Austria ; and, moreover, the Venetians had on va- 
rious occasions furnished Louis with valuable and effective sup- 
port in his wars in Lombardy. But his shortsighted eagerness to 
enlarge Italian territories by the acquisition of Brescia, Bergamo, 
and Cremona blinded the French monarch to these larger views 
of his true interest. The league against Venice was signed by the 
Cardinal d'Amboise and the Archduchess Marguerite, on behalf 
of Louis and Maximilian, on the 10th of December, 1508, and was 
joined immediately by the Fope, by Ferdinand the Catholic, and 
by the minor Italian states. In the beginning of April, 1509, 
Louis once more descended upon Lombardy at the head of a for- 
midable army, led by his ablest captains, among whom the mosl 
conspicuous was the heroic Bayard, tlie " chevalier sans peur et 
sans reproclie." Tlio Venetians were cumplcicly defeated on the 



A.D. 1510-1512, WAR BETWEEN LOUIS AND POPE JULIUS IL 289 

14tli of May at the village of Agnadel, leaving 6000 men slain on 
the field. This single battle decided the campaign ; lii-escia, Ber- 
gamo, Crema, Cremona, siu'rendered in succession ; Peschiera, 
which otFered some resistance, was taken by assault, and all the 
garrison put to the sword. Before the end of May Louis had recon- 
quered all the ancient dependencies of the duchy of Milan, and even 
enlarged its limits ; he immediately afterward reci'ossed the Alps. 

Meanwhile the Imperialists gained considerable advantages in 
the eastern part of the Venetian territory ; the Pope recovered the 
towns he coveted in the Romagna, and all the confederates attain- 
ed the objects for which they had taken up arms. The Republic, 
bending before the storm, now recalled her garrisons from the Con- 
tinent, negotiated with the conquerors, and fortified herself on her 
inaccessible lagunes, awaiting the turn of events. 

§ 6. The current of afiairs soon changed. Pope Julius IT., hav- 
ing gained all that he desired and expected from the league of 
Cambrai, gradually drew off from the French alliance, removed 
the interdict Avhich he had laid upon Venice, and recurred to his 
long-cherished project of driving the barbarians, as he termed the 
inhabitants of the countries beyond the Alps, from Italy. In- 
triguing, with restless activity, with Ferdinand of Spain, with 
Maximilian, with Henry VII I. of England, with the Venetians and 
the Swiss, the Pope succeeded at length in arraying all these pow- 
ers in combined hostility to France, and in the summer of 1510 
informed Louis of his danger by suddenly dismissing his embassa- 
dors from Rome. The military operations of Julius, however, 
were of no great importance ; and the French commander. Mar- 
shal Trivulzio, attacked the papal forces under the Duke of Ur- 
bino near Bologna, and obtained a brilliant victory. Julius fled 
in consternation to Rome ; but Louis, instead of vigorously follow- 
ing up his advantage, forbade his generals to enter the Roman ter- 
ritory, and contented himself with referring his gi-ievanccs against 
the Pope to an irregular council chiefly composed of French bish- 
ops, Avhich met at Pisa, and was afterward transferred to Milan. 
Julius replied to these feeble proceedings by announcing the " Holy 
League" (October 9, 1511) between himself, Ferdinand the Cath- 
olic, and the Venetian Republic — a movement made ostensibly in 
order to maintain the supremacy of the See of Rome against the 
schismatical council of Pisa, but in reality for the purpose of recov- 
ering Bologna, and expelling the French definitively from Italy. 

§ 7. Louis confronted this new danger Avith firmness and vigor, 
and gave the command of his forces to his nephew Gaston de Foix, 
duke of Nemours, a young otficer of distinguished promise and 
ability, then only in the twenty-third year of his age. The new 
general opened the campaign in Februai'y, 1512, by a sudden and 

N 



200 LOUIS XII. CiiAi-.XIII. 

brilliant march to the relief of Bologna, which v\'as invested by 
the Spaniards. After surmounting extraoi'dinary difficulties, Gas- 
ton effected his entrance into the city ; the besiegers forthwith 
broke up their camp and retired. The French next made a suc- 
cessful attack upon the Venetians at Brescia ; the city Avas taken 
by storm on the 19th of February, and, after a fearful massacre of 
the inhabitants, was given up to wholesale pillage for seven days: 
the plunder is said to have been valued at three millions of crowns. 
The rapidity and importance of these exploits spread the fame of 
the youthful commander throughout Italy. The princes of the 
league, now strengthened by the adhesion of Henry VIII. of En- 
gland, redoubled their efforts, and labored, not without effect, to 
draw over the Emperor Maximilian from the French alliance to 
their own. Louis, perceiving that it was necessary to strike a 
great and decisive blow, instructed his nephew to invade the Ko- 
magna, a step which must inevitably bring on a general engage- 
ment. The army, hovvever, had become demoralized by the ex- 
cesses consequent upon the sack of Brescia, and several weeks 
elapsed before it was again in a condition to take the field. Early 
in April the impetuous Gaston advanced upon Eavenna at the 
head of 1600 lances and 18,000 infantry. The Spanish viceroy, 
Don Ramon de Cardona, hastened to the succor of that important 
city ; and the French general, finding himself hemmed in between 
the fortress and the camp of the enemy, resolved to abandon the 
siege, and challenged the allies to a pitched battle in the great 
plains surrounding Ravenna. Here, on Easter Sunday, April 11, 
1512, was fought a desperate and memorable action, Avhich, al- 
though it shed additional lustre on the arms of France, failed to 
secure to Louis any permanent advantage in his struggle for Ital- 
ian dominion. The battle commenced with a murderous cannon- 
ade, sustained with equal vigor on both sides ; the Spanish and 
Italian cavalry then made a gallant charge against the P^rench in- 
fantry, but were repulsed and overthrown with tremendous slaugh- 
ter; many prisoners of rank, including the celebrated Pedro Na- 
varro, the Marquis of Peseara, and the Cardinal de' Medici, aft- 
erward Pope Leo X., remained in the hands of the French. The 
allies, having lost 12,000 of their number, at length commenced 
a retreat ; and a large body of Spanish infantry retired in perfect 
order along the road to Ravenna. The heroic Gaston de P'oix, 
carried away by the inconsiderate ardor of youth, resolved, if pos- 
sible, to intercept their escape, and i-ode furiously against them with 
a slender escort. He was instantly surrounded, hurled from his 
horse, and, having received no less than twenty wounds from sword 
and lance, met his death gloriously in the very arms of victory. 

" With him," says Guicciardini, " disappeared all the vigor of 
the PVench army;" and, in truth, it soon appeared that victory, 



A.D. 1512, 1513. TREATY BETWP:EN FKANCE AND VENICE. 291 

purchased at such a price, was equivalent in its results to a de- 
feat. The brave La Falisse, who succeeded to the command, was 
altogether unable to make head against the leaguers, who were 
now- openly joined by the vacillating Maximilian. 20,000 Swiss, 
hired by the emperor, descended suddenly upon the Milanese, and 
Maximilian Sforza, son of the unfortunate Ludovico il Moro, was 
immediately proclaimed as sovereign of the duchy. La Falisse 
evacuated the Romagna in all haste, and fell back to defend the 
invaded province ; but he found himself pursued by misfortune ; 
his ranks were lamentably thinned by disaffection and desertion ; 
and after fighting a sanguinary action in the streets of Pavia, he 
placed garrisons in the fortresses of Milan, Cremona, and Novara, 
and with the remainder of his troops made the best of his way 
through Savoy into France. 

Italy was now once more wrested from the hands of her Trans- 
alpine spoilers. The papal troops easily reconquered the Romag- 
na; the dynasty of the Medici was re-established at France by 
the Spaniards under Cardona ; Genoa recovered her independ- 
ence ; Maximilian Sforza was recognized as Duke of Milan. The 
"Holy League" had achieved a complete and signal triumph ; and 
the intrepid Julius had the rare gratification of witnessing before 
his death the realization of the one supreme object to which he 
had devoted his reign. The Pope expired on the 24th of Febru- 
ary, 1513. 

§ 8^. Notwithstanding these humiliating reverses, the obstinate 
pride and infatuated ambition of Louis impelled him to renewed 
efforts for the recovery of his ascendency in Northern Italy. In 
order to this, he reconciled himself with the Venetians, Jigainst 
whom he had formed the ill-advised and calamitous league of 
Cambrai four years before ; a treaty, offensive and defensive, be- 
tween France and the Republic, was signed on the 24th of March, 
1513 ; the duchy of Milan was guaranteed to Louis ; and an aux- 
iliary force of 14,000 Venetians was to join his army as soon as 
it appeared in Italy. No sooner did the marshals Trivulzio and 
La Tremouillc approach Milan than the whole city declared by 
acclamation for tlie French, and expelled Maximilian Sforza, whcr, 
protected by a body of Swiss mercenaries, took refuge at Novara. 
The Venetians advanced from Verona, the towns in their line of 
march submitted in succession on the first summons, and the whole 
of the revolted duchy was momentai-ily recovered without firing a 
shot. La Tremouille, greatly elated, pressed forward to besiege 
the Swiss at Novara, and wrote boastfully to Louis that he would 
send Maximilian Sforza in chains to France, as he had sent his 
father Ludovico thirteen years before ; but the sturdy mountain- 
eers, actuated on this occasion either by sentiments of national 



292 LOUIS XII. Chap. XIII. 

honor or by resentment against the French, made an obstinate and 
successful defense. Having been strongly re-enfbrced, they sur- 
prised the enemy's camp at La liiotta before daybreak on the 6th 
of June, 1513, and, though unprovided either with cavalry or ar- 
tillery, gained a brilliant victory. The redoubtable French gen- 
darmerie was for the first time completely broken, and fled from 
the field in iri'etrievable disorder. The discomfited marshals forth- 
with abandoned Lombardy, with the loss of their cannon and more 
than half their army ; and the duchy of Milan, with the exception 
of two or three fortresses, was again lost to France in a shorter 
space than it had taken to regain it. 

These disastrous events emboldened the enemies of France to 
make simultaneous demonstrations against her from various quar- 
ters. The treacherous Ferdinand assumed a menacing attitude 
on the frontier of Aragon ; Henry VHI. landed with 20,000 men 
at Calais ; the Swiss, flushed Avith their recent triumphs, invaded 
Fi'anche-Comte. The English army advanced in August, 1513, 
and sat down before the walls of Terouanne. They were here join- 
ed by the eccentric Emperor Maximilian, who, after contracting to 
serve in the ranks as a volunteer at the rate of 100 crowns a day, 
soon contrived to gratify his vanity by assuming the direction of 
the operations of the siege. A French force was dispatclaed to 
relieve Terouanne, under the orders of the Duke of Longueville, 
grandson of the gallant Dunois, and the illustrious Bayard. The 
two armies met on the 16th of August, betAveen Terouanne and 
Blangis, when, after a brief encounter, the French gendafmeric 
consulted their safety by a flight so precipitate that the day has 
become known in history as the " Battle of the Spurs." Longue- 
ville, Bayard, La Palisse, and other superior officers, after vainly 
striving to arrest the panic-struck fugitives, were compelled to 
surrender 'themselves prisoners of war. The capitulation of Te'- 
i'ouanne followed, after Avhicli the allied sovereigns proceeded to 
Tournay, and obtained easy possession of that city ; but a dispute 
with the vainglorious Maximilian now determined Henry to re- 
turn to England, and the campaign abruptly terminated. It was 
in the course of this same summer that the ftuthful and almost 
tlie only ally of Louis, James IV. of Scotland, Avas totally defeated 
and slain on the fatal field of Flodden. 

§ 9. The king was now thoroughly weaiied of the protracted 
and harassing wars Avhich had filled up his whole reign. Early 
in the year 1514., upon the death of his consort Anne of Bi'ittany, 
to whom he was sincerely attached, he became anxious for a gen- 
eral pacification ; and, as a first step, reconciled himself with the 
new Pope, JjQO X., upon condition of repudiating the irregular 
council of Pisa, and acknowledging the title of Maximilian Sforza 



A.D. 1515. MARRIAGE AND DEATH OL' J.OUIS. 293 

at Milan. This was soon followed by a treaty of peace with 
Spain and with the empire. Henry of England, who had at first 
declined to be a party to the treaty, yielded to the personal solici- 
tations of the Pope ; a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, 
between the two sovereigns, was signed on the 7th of August. 
The young Princess Mary, the sister of the English king, was mar- 
ried to the widowed Louis. But this hasty match was followed 
by unforeseen and melancholy consequences. The king, whose 
health was declining, had for some time restricted liimself to the 
simplest and most regular habits of life, dining early, and retiring 
to rest at sunset. In the society of his beautiful and light-hearted 
bride, he was now induced to engage in a round of exciting festiv- 
ities, ill suited to his years and infirmities ; his strength rapidly 
failed during the autumn, and he expired at the palace of theTour- 
nelles, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, on the 1st of January, 
1515. 

In spite of his ill-advised wars and unsuccessful foreign policy, 
Louis XII. enjoyed great popularity among his subjects, and his 
loss was universally regretted. His internal administration enti- 
tles him to the praise of justice, clemency, a wise economy, and 
enlightened generosity in the patronage of the arts. His collec- 
tion of the judicial customs of France (" Code Coutumier") is one 
of the most important legislative monuments of the ancient mon- 
archy. Notwithstanding so many costly wars, the taille was di- 
minished during this reign by nearly one third ; and the strictest 
integrity and regularity were enforced in every department of the 
public revenue. Agriculture and commerce received at the same 
time a great and remarkable impulse ; and the general increase of 
the wealth of the nation became apparent in the superior elegance 
and luxury of domestic architecture, furniture, and dress. 

This was the period of the so-called Renaissance of the arts, es- 
pecially of architecture. Both Louis himself and his minister the 
Cardinal d'Amboise had become acquainted in Italy with the mas- 
terpieces of Leonardo da Vinci, Brunelleschi, and Bramante ; and 
encouraged to the utmost the spread of artistic taste, and the prac- 
tical imitation of these admirable models throughout France. 
Many of the most beautiful public edifices in the kingdom date 
from this epoch. Among them may be specified the Hotels dc 
Ville of Com piegne. Arras, and St. Quentin; the Hotel de Cluni 
at Paris ; and, above all, the Chateau de Gaillon in Normandy, 
and the exquisite Palais de Justice at Eouen, both the work of 
Fra Giocondo, an architect of Verona, who, at the invitation of the 
Cardinal d'Amboise, resided several years in France. The sumpt- 
uous monument of the cardinal, still to be seen in the Cathedral 
of Rouen, was executed by Roullant le Roux, a pupil of Giocondo. 




Francis I. (From medal in the Britisli Jluseum.) 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FKAKCIS I. A.D. 1515-1547. 

§ 1. Accession of Francis I. § 2. Invades the Milanese; Battle of Marig- 
nano. § 3. Treaty with the Swiss; "Paix Perpetuelle ;" Concordat with 
Leo X. § 4. Accession of Chai'les V. to the Spanish Throne ; Treaty of 
Noyon ; Francis and Charles candidates for the Empire ; Election of 
Charles. § 5 Interview between Francis and Henry VIII. of England; 
"Field of the Cloth of Gold?" War with Spain; Invasion of Navarre by 
the French ; the French driven out of the Milanese. § G. Revolt of the 
Constable Bourbon. § 7. He defeats the French in Italy; Death of Bay- 
ard ; Invasion of France by the Constable ; his Repulse. § 8. Francis in- 
vades Italy ; his Defeat and Capture at the Battle of Pavia. § 9. Treaty 
of Madrid; Release of Francis. § 10. He evades the execution of the 
Treaty ; Renewal of the War ; Capture of Rome by the Constable Bour- 
bon ; Death of the Constable ; Disasters of the French in Italy. §11. 
Peace of Cambrai between Francis and Charles. § 12. Refoi'mation in 
France; Persecution of the Reformers. § 13. Rupture of the Peace of 
Cambrai; Charles invades Provence ; his Retreat; Death of the Dauphin ; 
Conclusion of Peace. § 14. Visit of Charles to France. § 15. Alliance 
between Francis and the Turks ; Success of the French in Piedmont ; In- 
vasion of Franceby Henry VIII. of England and Charles; Treaty of Peace. 
§ IG. Persecution of the Protestants of Provence; Death cf Francis. 

§ 1. As Louis XII. left no male issue, he was succeeded on the 
(hrone by Francis of Angouleme, duke of Valois, a prince de- 
scended, like himself, but collaterally, from the house of Valois- 
Orloans. The father of Francis, Charles, count of Angouleme, 
was first-cousin to the late king, and grandson of Louis of Orleans, 
assassinated by Jean sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy. (Sec Genea- 



A.D. 1515. INVASION OF THE MILANESE. 295 

logical Table, p. 281.) His mother was the celebrated Princess 
Louisa, daughter of Philip, duke of Savoy. His hei-editary claims 
Avere strengthened by his union with the Princess Claude, eldest 
daughter of Louis XII. and Anne of Brittany ; and his personal 
qualities and accomplishments — his noble stature, his bravery, his 
proficiency in all chivalrous exercises, his affable manners and joy- 
ous temper — were precisely such as dazzle and captivate the pop- 
ular mind. His accession was in consequence not only undis- 
puted, but hailed with satisfaction and enthusiasm by all. 

Although the new king had reached his twenty-first year, he 
was still in complete subjection to his mother, a woman of decided 
talent, but of licentious conduct, and imperious, ungovernable tem- 
per. She was immediately created Duchess of Angouleme and 
Anjou, and the first appointments of the new reign wei'e made by 
her direction. Charles, duke of Bourbon, received the Constable's 
sword ; Antoine Duprat, Louisa's confidential friend and counsel- 
or, was made chancellor of the realm ; LaPalisse was advanced to 
the dignity of marshal; the management of the finances was given 
to Gouffier Boisy, formerly the king's preceptor. Marshal Lau- 
trec, of a younger branch of the house of Foix, was named govern- 
or of Guienne ; and his sister, the talented and fascinating Count- 
ess de Chateaubriand, became the mistress of the young monai'ch. 

§ 2. The first thoughts of the high-spirited Francis were turn- 
ed, not unnaturally, to the reconquest of the duchy of Milan — the 
ancient claim of the Orleans family to that territory foi'ming a 
convenient handle for warlike enterprise beyond the Alps. Hav- 
ing renewed his amicable relations with Henry of England and 
the Venetian Kepnblic, Francis named his mother regent of the 
kingdom during his absence ; and in July, 1515, concentrated his 
army in Daupliine for the invasion of Lombardy. Sixty thousand 
men, with an immense train of artillery, Avere soon assembled un- 
der the ablest commanders of the day — the Constable Bourbon, 
Marshals Trivulzio and Lautrec, La Tremouille, and the immortal 
Bayard. The cause of Maximilian Sforza was defended by twenty 
thousand Swiss under the orders of the Roman general Prosper 
Colonna, who occupied the defiles of Mont Cenis and Mont Go- 
nevre, then considered the only approaches to that part of Italy 
practicable for an army. Eut the Fi-ench, with equal skill, cour- 
age, and perseverance, forced a new passage by Barcelonette and 
tlie rugged gorges of the Monte Viso, and thence descended on the 
friendly territories of the IMarquis of Saluces, having completely 
turned the left of the enemy's position. Prosper Colonna, with a 
considerable body of cavalry, Avas surprised and taken jirisoner on 
the 15th of August ; the Swiss, in utter consternation, fell back 
upon Novai'a ; and the invaders pressed forward Avilhout opposi- 



29G 



FRANCIS I. 



Chap. XIV. 



tion to Turin. Negotiations were now opened with the Swiss, 
who engaged, in consideration of a large indemnity to themselves 
and the grant of favorable terms to Sforza, to evacuate Piedmont 
and sign a treaty of alliance with France. But the arrangement 
was scarcely concluded when suddenly a second Swiss army made 
its appearance from the side of Bellinzona ; the convention was 
unscrupulously broken off; and the Swiss commanders, uniting 
their forces, took possession of Milan. Marching from that city 
on the 13th of September, they encountered the French army at 
the village of Marignano, ten miles from the capital, and a desper- 
ate battle ensued, which raged from four in the afternoon till near 




Biittle of JIarigaano. (From bas-relief on the tomb of Francis I. at St. Denis.) 

midnight without decisive result. The conflict was renewed at 
break of day, when, after repeated efforts, the right wing of the 
Swiss was at lengtli broken through and put to the rout by the 
Constable and Pedro Navarro, in consequence of Avhich their whole 
line was compelled to retreat. At this moment the Venetian con- 
tingent came up, and began to take part in the fray ; upon which 
the Swiss gave up the contest, and precipitately abandoned the 
field, which was heaped with 10,000 of their dead. The victors 
lost GOOO men, among Avhom were several members of the noblest 



A.D. 1515, 1516. CONCOKDAT WITH LEO X. 297 

families of France. The veteran Trivulzio, who had fought in 
eighteen pitched battles, declared that all the rest were child's 
play in comparison with Marignano, which he called " a combat 
of giants."' The young king, who had displayed the utmost gal- 
lantry, received knighthood on the field of battle from the honored 
hands of Bayard. 

The fidl of Milan was the immediate result of this great vic- 
tory. The city surrendered on the 4th of October. Maximilian 
Sforza renounced his claims to the dukedom ; and having accept- 
ed from Francis the offer of a liberal pension, retired peaceably 
into the French dominions, where he had stipulated for permission 
to reside. He died in obscurity at Paris fifteen years afterward. 

§ 3. Other important consequences followed. Francis, who dur- 
ing the recent operations had leai-ned to appreciate and respect the 
martial prowess of the Swiss, resolved to spare no pains to secure 
their alliance, and offered them the same reasonable terms as be- 
fore his victory. The Swiss, smarting under their losses, and struck 
by the brilliant qualities and extraordinary success of the young 
conqueror, gladly responded to his overtures ; and by the treaties 
of Geneva (Nov. 7, 1515) and of Fribourg (Nov. 29, 1516), the 
Helvetian republic, hitherto one of the most formidable opponents 
of France, was converted into her faithful ally and powerful bul- 
wark. The latter treaty, known by the name of the " Paix per- 
petuelle," has verified its title better than most similar engage- 
ments of which history makes mention, having lasted without in- 
terruption from that day forward down to the overthrow of the 
French monarchy at the Revolution. 

Pope Leo X. showed himself no less anxious to conciliate the 
friendship of the sovereign of France. Conditions of peace were 
soon agreed upon. Leo guaranteed to Francis the possession of 
the Milanese, and surrendered Parma and Placentia, after which 
he invited the king to a personal interview at Bologna. LTere they 
fidly discussed the delicate topic of the relations between the Gal- 
lican Church and the Papal See — relations which had remained 
ill an unsettled and unsatisfactory state ever since the commence- 
ment of the reign of Louis XI. Francis left the details of the ar- 
rangement to be adjusted between the Pope and the Chancellor 
D 11 prat ; and the result was, that in the course of the year 15 IG 
the celebrated " Concordat" was signed between the courts of 
France and Rome. By this treaty the Pragmatic Sanction was 
formally abolished, and the king acquired the right of presentation 
to all bishoprics and other ecclesiastical dignities, including even 
the papal reserves and reversions ; the Pope, however, retaining a 
veto upon any nominee who might be disqualified according to the 
canons. On the other hand, Francis surrendei'ed to Leo and his 

N2 



Wf 



298 FRANCIS I. Chap. XIV. 

successors the "annates," or first-fruits, being one year's revenue 
of every benefice to which he presented. He also made some im- 
portant concessions as to the authority and convocation of nation- 
al and provincial councils. 

This singular compact — by which, as Mezeray remarks, the Pope 
abandoned to the civil power a purely spiritual privilege, and re- 
ceived in retui'n a temporal advantage — was a serious abridgment 
of the popular liberties in France, and an immense step toward 
the absolute despotism of the crown. As such, it was received 
by the PVench people with general indignation ; the Parliament 
of Paris, though commanded to register it by the king in pei'son, 
refused compliance, and appealed to a future council of the Church, 
to which alone the cognizance of such matters belonged ; nor was 
it till after lengthened delays that the decree was at length ac- 
cepted (Mai'ch 22, 1518), and then only under stringent protest, 
and with a distinct statement that it was done by the positive 
command of the king. Notwithstanding this forced submission, 
the operation of the concordat was for many years successfully 
eluded; chapters and convents continued to fill up vacant sees 
and abbeys by free election ; and on appeal to the courts of law, 
their nominees were confirmed in opposition to those of the sov- 
ereign. At length, in 1527, a royal edict appeared, by which the 
cognizance of all ecclesiastical causes was summarily withdrawn 
from the Parliament and transferred to the Council of State. This 
produced a sullen acquiescence in the new law ; but it remained 
none the less distasteful to the mass of the nation, and was the 
object of repeated protests and remonstrances during several suc- 
cessive reigns. 

§ 4. On his return to France the king received intelligence of 
the death of Ferdinand the Catholic (January 23, 151C), and the 
accession of Charles of Austria to the Spanish throne. Charles 
assumed the reins of government at a moment of much embar- 
rassment and agitation, and his quicksighted tact pointed out at 
once the importance of cultivating the good-will of the French 
monarch. Hence it so happened that the first transaction be- 
tween these two princes, whose fierce rivalry Avas destined to en- 
tail upon Europe one of the most desolating struggles it had ever 
known, was a treaty of peace and alliance. The articles were 
signed at Noyon, August 13, 1516. This treaty was quickly fol- 
lowed by pacific arrangements with the emperor and the King of 
England, and a final period was thus put to the destructive wars 
engendered by the nefarious League of Cambrai. The Venetian 
Kepublic issued from this bloody strife with diminished jjower but 
with untai-nished honor. 

The close of the year 1516 presented the rare spectacle of pro- 



A.D. 151G-1520. ELECTIOX OF CHARLES. 299 

found tranquillity throughout the western states of Europe. For 
something more tlian two years no event occurred to disturb the 
general repose ; but the death of the Emperor Maximilian, in 
January, 1519, stirred up afresh the elements of discord; for the 
ambitious Francis, who had cherished for some time the proud 
vision of a restoration of the empire of Charlemagne, now an- 
nounced himself a candidate for the imperial diadem, in opposi- 
tion to Charles of Spain. Francis made unscrupulous use of 
every means of influencing the electors : " I will spend three mil- 
lions of crowns," he wrote to his embassador at the Diet, " to gain 
my object." At first his pi-ospects seemed extremely favorable ; 
he received the absolute promise of four votes, a majority of the 
college. But on the day of election different views and interests 
prevailed. The crown was first tendered to the Elector Frederick 
of Saxony; that prudent prince, however, declined the dangerous 
honor, and gave his vote, accompanied by a speech of warm rec- 
ommendation, to Charles of Austria. The rival of Francis was ac- 
cordingly declared successor to the empire, and was styled thence- 
forward Charles the Fifth (July 5, 1519.) 

Previously to the election Francis had expi^essed himself in the 
most courteous terms to the embassadors of Charles, observins 
that their master and himself were two lovers contending for the 
hand of the same mistress, and that, as only one candidate could 
be successful, the loser must by no means bear malice against his 
fortunate competitor. Yet it is certain that, as soon, as the event 
was known, the French king, forgetting his own lessons of moder- 
ation and equanimity, assumed from that day forward a menacing 
and hostile attitude toward the new emperor and the house of 
Austria. Indeed, apart from his recent personal mortification, 
the enoi'mous power thus suddenly concentrated in the hands of a 
single foreign potentate was a legitimate ground of jealousy and 
apprehension to one in the position held by Francis. He could 
not but see that France must sooner or later enter the lists against 
this gigantic adversary, and either successfully hold her own in 
the contest, or sink, in her humiliation, to a very secondary place 
among the nations of Europe. 

§ 5. The two rivals, for such they soon became undisguisedly, 
courted at the same moment the friendship and alliance of the 
King of England. Here Francis was forestalled by the superior 
promptitude of Charles ; the emperor landed at Dover, without 
invitation, on the 26th of May, 1520, and held confidential inter- 
views both with Henry and with his minister Wolsey, then in the 
plenitude of his favor and authority. The cardinal had hitherto 
inclined toward the cause of France ; but the wily Charles con- 
trived, during this brief visit, to win him over to his own. Wolsey 



300 FKANCIS I. Chap. XIV. 

aspired to the chair of St. Peter ; the emperor promised to assist 
him by exerting all his vast influence and resources toward the 
gratification of liis ambition. He also treated him with flattering 
distinction, and loaded him Avith magnificent presents. Immedi- 
ately after the emperor's departure Henry and his favorite pro- 
ceeded to hold a conference with Francis at an appointed spot 
between the towns of Ardres and Guines, which has received, 
from the gorgeous scene there enacted, the title of the " Field of 
the Cloth of Gold." The series of fetes which ensued, extending 
over eighteen days, were on a scale of unprecedented and fabulous 
splendor ; but the English monarch, although Francis exhausted 
every art to captivate him, seems rather to have been piqued and 
offended by a display of wealth, elegance, and luxury which eclipsed 
that of his own court; and, in spite of much exhibition of jovial 
good-fellowship, and profession of fraternal regard and confidence, 
the interview proved abortive as a means of political advantage. 
Before he recrossed the Channel Plenry a second time met the 
emperor at Gravelines ; and with such address did Charles im- 
prove the opportunity, that he won from the English king a 
promise to conclude no public engagement hostile to the imperial 
interests, while, at the same time, he flattered him by proposing 
that, in case of a rupture between himself and Francis, the points 
in dispute should be referred to the decision of England, thus 
placing Henry in the proud position of arbiter of the peace of 
Europe. 

The storm so clearly foreseen on both sides burst forth in the 
spring of 1521, when a French army passed the Pyrenees and in- 
vaded Navarre for the purpose of aiding Henry d'Albret to recov- 
er the throne of that kingdom, of which he had been deprived some 
years before by Ferdinand the Catholic. It was during the siege 
of Pampeluna by the French in this campaign that a young offi- 
cer of Guipuzcoa, actively engaged in conducting the defense, re- 
ceived a severe wound which confined him for many weeks to his 
bed, an occurrence which proved the turning-point of his subse- 
quent extraordinary career. This gallant soldier, soon to reappear 
upon the scene in a very different and far more influential character, 
was none other than Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Order of Jesus. 

Hostilities had broken out in the course of the same year in the 
Milanese, the most valuable and precarious of the possessions of 
Francis. Marshal Lautrec, the French governor, had made him- 
self odious to the inhabitants by his exactions and severities; he 
was, moreover, without the means of paying his Swiss mercenaries, 
the only force upon which he could rely for defense. The remit- 
tances destined for this purpose were seized by tlie vindictive Lou- 
isa of Savoy, who had conceived a spite against Lautrec, and were 



A.D. 1521-1523. REVOLT OF THE CONSTABLE BOURBON. 301 

appropriated to her own use. Meanwhile a secret compact had 
been entered into by the Pope and the emperor for the purpose of 
once more expelling the French from the soil of Italy. Their 
combined forces took the field in October, 1521, and obtained pos- 
session of Milan ; but the death of Leo X. on the 1st of Decem- 
ber disconcerted for a time the movements of the confederates. 
The campaign of the following year was disastrous to the French. 
Lautrec was defeated with great loss, and the French obliged to 
surrender all their places in the Milanese except Novara and Cre- 
mona. Thus the long-contested duchy of Milan was, for the third 
time within twenty years, violently severed from the crown of 
France. 

Henry of England, swayed by the counsels of Wolsey, now open- 
ly espoused the cause of the emperor, and declared war against 
France in May, 1522. 

§ 6. Affairs were in this position when an unfortunate event 
occurred, which proved in its consequences more injurious to the 
cause of Francis than any defeats hitherto inflicted on him by the 
united efforts of his enemies. The Constable, Charles, duke of 
Bourbon, at this time the most powerful subject in France, had 
acquired his vast possessions and exalted rank by his mai-riage 
with Susanna, the heiress of the elder branch of the house of Bour- 
bon. His great talents, distinguished ceui^age, and many brilliant 
qualities, made him an object of admiration to the unprincipled 
Louisa of Savoy ; and upon the death of the Duchess Susanna, 
the former princess, although considerably older than the Consta' 
ble, made him a proposal of marriage. Her overtures were re- 
pelled with haughty and insolent disdain ; and Louisa, giving the 
reins to all the passionate vengeance of an offended woman, vow- 
ed from that moment to effect his ruin. In concert Avith her crea- 
ture the Chancellor Duprat, she laid claim, in June, 1523, to the 
entire patrimony of the house of Bourbon, as being the nearest 
surviving relative of the late duke: she was, in fact, the daughter 
of his sister, Margaret, duchess of Savoy. The king at the samo 
time demanded certain appanages which had reverted to the crown 
by the death of the late Duchess Susanna ; and a royal edict 
stripped the. Constable of all the revenues belonging to his office. 
.Jiourbon, thus driven to extremity, suddenly executed a desperate 
design which he seems for some time to have meditated in secret; 
he renounced his allegiance to his lawful prince, abandoned his 
service, and made common cause with the enemies of France. By 
a treaty concluded with the agents of the emperor, it was agreed 
tliat the Constable should take the command of an army destined 
to invade France from the side of Germany, while at the same 
moment a Spanish force was to cross the Pyrenean frontier, and 



302 FRANCIS I. CiiAi'. XIV. 

the King of England, to whom the scheme had been communica- 
ted, was to make a descent upon Normandy and Picardy. Farther 
stipulations assured to the recreant Bourbon an independent sov- 
ereignty formed out of Dauphine and Provence, together with the 
hand of the emperor's sister Eleanora in marriage. 

§ 7. The defection of the Constable, and the advance of the 
English under the Duke of Suffolk to St. Omer (August, 1523), 
determined Francis not to quit his kingdom; he would not, how- 
ever, relinquish his designs upon the Milanese, and intrusted the 
army of invasion to the Admiral Bonnivet, a man of little merit 
and no talent, who owed his favor with the king to his graceful 
person and insinuating manners. Bonnivet trifled away the au- 
tumn in false manoeuvres, and his army suffered dreadfully from 
cold and hunger during an unusually severe winter. With the re- 
tui-n of spring he found himself opposed to the redoubtable Charles 
of Bourbon, who had made his escape from France, and was now 
lieutenant general of the emperor in Italy. Crossing the Ticino 
Avith a superior force, Bourbon forced the French to fall back upon 
Novara ; Bonnivet continued his retreat toward Gattinara, and in 
a combat on the Sesia received a severe wound, which compelled 
him to resign the command to the Chevalier Bayard and the Count 
de St. Pol. A desperate struggle followed, in the course of which 
the noble Bayard, having I'esisted for some time the whole strength 
of the enemy, and thus secured the retreat of the French army, 
was mortally Avounded by a musket-shot in the loins. He caused 
himself to be placed at the foot of a tree, with his face still turned 
toward the enemy, and in this position calmly prepared himself 
for death. The Constable }5ourbon rode up soon afterward, in hot 
pursuit of his flying countrymen, and addressed the expiring hero 
in words of respectful sympathy. " I am no object of compassion," 
returned Bayard ; " I die as becomes a soldier and a man of hon- 
or ; it is yourself who are to be pitied — you who have the misfor- 
tune to be flghting against your king, your country, and your oath." 
Three hours afterward he breathed his last, honored and deeply la- 
mented alike by friend and foe (April 30, 1524). 

The French now hastily abandoned Lombardy, and regained 
their own territory by the pass of Mont Genevre. 

The Constable liourbon, whose implacable vengeance made him ■ 
the soul of the coalition against Francis, obtained permission of 
the emperor, in the course of the same summer, to attack France 
on the frontier of Provence. His army crossed the Var early in 
July, and having reduced Frejus, Toulon, Aix, and other towns, 
on the 19th of August commenced the siege of Marseilles. This 
attempt pi-oved signally unsuccessful ; the place Avas obstinately 
defended, and amply sup])lied with pj-ovisions by the fleet. Fran- 



A.D. 1524, 1525. I'KANCIS INVADES ITALY. 303 

cis assembled a powerful armyjigt Avignon ; and an assault having 
been repulsed with severe loss, the Imperialists raised the siege of 
Marseilles on the 28th of September, and made a hurried retreat 
across the border, closely pursued by the t'rench. 

§ 8. Francis, instead of following the enemy along the coast, 
now resolved, with excellent judgment, to attempt by forced march- 
es to gain Milan by the route of Piedmont before Bourbon could 
arrive to relieve it. So rapid were his movements, that he appear- 
ed before Milan on the 2(3th of October, and entered the city at 
one gate while the Spanish garrison marched out at the opposite 
side. But, unfortunately, instead of vigorously following up his 
advantage, the French monarch was induced to form the siege of 
Pavia, which Avas defended by the famous Spanish general Anto- 
nio de Leyva. Three months were fruitlessly consumed before 
this fortress — an interval which the imperial commanders employ- 
ed in rallying and reorganizing their army. Bourbon obtained re- 
enforcements from Germany, with which he joined De Lannoy ar.d 
Pescara at Lodi ; and their concentrated forces, marching from 
that place on the 25tli of January, 1525, advanced toward li:c 
French camp at Pavia. La Tremouille, La Palisse, and other vet- 
eran captains, now counseled Francis to raise the siege, and take 
up a strong position so as to give battle with advantage in the open 
plain; but this advice was overruled by the king's favorite, Bon - 
nivet, and it Avas resolved to await the enemy's onset' in front of 
Payia. For three weeks the two armies remained in presence 
without movement on either side. At length, on the 24th of 
February, 1525, the imperial leaders, having ascertained that the 
French had been considerably weakened by the desertion of a corps 
of Swiss mercenaries, made an attack upon the line of Francis. 
The battle which ensued was hotly contested, but ended in the to- 
tal defeat of the PVench. Francis himself, when he saw that all 
was lost, turned to tly ; but four Spanish musketeers threw them- 
selves upon him, and, his horse having fallen under him, the king 
•lay at their mercy. He was now recognized by one of the follow- 
ers of the Duke of Bourbon, and compelled to surrender his sword 
to the Viceroy Lannoy, who presented him with his own in ex- 
change, and treated him with the utmost respect and delicacy. 

Upward of 8000 Frenchmen perished on this disastrous day. 
All the most distinguished generals — the Marshals La Tremouille, 
La Palisse, and Lescun, Louis d'Ars, the Duke of Longueville, Ad- 
miral Bonnivet, and Richard de la Pole, the last descendant of the 
royal house of York — were slain on the spot. Henry d'Albret, 
king of Navarre, the Marshal INIontmorency, Fleuranges, and the 
Count St. Pol, remained prisoners with the king. The loss of the 
victors is said not to have exceeded 700. 



304 FRANCIS I. Chap. XIV. 

The captive monarch Avas conducted to the castle of Pizzighit- 
tone, near Milan, and thence wrote a letter to his mother describ- 
ing his misfortunes, though not, as it would appear, in those la- 
conic terms which have* become so widely celebrated through the 
narrative of the Pere Daniel.* 

§ 9* The news of the defeat at Pavia was received in France with 
indescribable alarm and dismay. The Kegent Louisa displayed in 
this emergency remarkable intelligence, resolution, and activity. 
She opened communications v/ith Henry of England, with the Pope, 
with Venice, with Florence, and even witli the Turkish sultan ; 
and such were the apprehensions excited in Europe by the colos- 
sal power and recent triumph of the emperor, that these diplo- 
matic exertions were not made in vain. Henry signed, in August, 
1525, a treaty of neutrality and defensive alliance Avith France, 
engaging to use every effort to obtain the liberation of the king, 
but exacting of the regent that the boon should never be purchased 
at the price of any territorial dismemberment of France. This 
example Avas quickly followed by a secret league between England, 
the Pope, Venice, and Francesco Sforza, having for its object the 
complete deliverance of Italy from the imperial yoke. 

Charles, on hearing of his victory, affected at first great modesty 
and forbearance, and expressed the kindest sentiments toward his 
fallen rival. But this Avas mere pretense. The terms which he 
proposed, Avhen at length induced to treat for peace, AA'ere beyond 
measure harsh and exorbitant : he demanded the restitution of 
Ikirgundy and all other possessions of Charles the Bold ; the erec- 
tion of a separate kingdom for Charles of Bourbon ; the restora- 
tion to Henry VIII. of all territories in France rightfully enjoyed 
by his ancestors ; and, lastly, that Francis should unite Avith the 
empire in an expedition against the Tui'ks, furnishing an army of 
20,000 men. Francis indignantly declared that he Avould rather 
die in prison than accept conditions Avhich Avould leave him King of 
France only in name. At the same time, conceiving that Charles 
Avould be more likely to listen to reason if he could confer Avith 
liim in person, he expressed a desire to be transferred to Madrid. 
This Avas at once assented to, and Francis, embarking at Genoa, 
reached Valencia toward the end of June, and proceeded to the 
capital, Avhere he Avas lodged in a gloomy tOAver of the Alcazar. 
Charles maintained an ominous reserve ; he came not to visit his 
royal prisoner ; and Francis, chafing with impatience and disap- 
pointment, began to yield to despondency, and was soon attacked 
by serious illness. The emperor noAv seemed to relent, and re- 
vived the hopes of the sufferer by granting him a personal inter- 

* See Captivity du Roi Francois 1«"', by M. Champollion, p. 129. The 
king's letter is of considemble lc'ni;th. 



A.D. 152G. FRANCIS EVADES EXECUTING THE TREATY. 305 

view; but lie continued to insist without abatement on the condi- 
tions already signified ; and the result was, that Francis, driven 
to despair, resolved on the extreme step of abdicating his throne 
in favor of his son the dauphin, and actually drew up and signed 
an instrument for this purpose. But his spirit becoming broken 
by the rigors of his lengthened confinement, he was unable to per- 
severe in this design; and on the 14th of January, 1526, he sign- 
ed, under a secret protest which permitted him to violate it at 
pleasure, the humiliating treaty of Madrid, by which he ceded to 
Charles Burgundy, Flanders, and Artois, renounced all claim to 
Milan and Naples, restored to the Constable all his forfeited do- 
mains, and engaged to attend the emperor with a fleet and army 
when he Avent to be crowned at Home, or marched against the in- 
fidels. The two elder sons of Francis were to be given up as hos- 
tages for the fulfillment of the treaty ; and in case Burgundy 
should not be transferred to Charles within four months, the king 
bound himself to return in person to captivity. 

On the 18th of March, 1526, Francis crossed the Bidassoa, and 
once more set foot on the shores of his own kingdom. Springing 
on horseback, he exclaimed triumphantly, "I am again a king!" 
Then starting at full speed, he scarcely drew bridle till he reached 
Bayonne. 

§ 10. The king's first impulse and endeavor was to evade the 
execution of the recent treaty, Avhich, in virtue of the circumstances 
under which it was signed, he professed to regard as null and void. 
Being pressed by the Viceroy Lannoy to fulfill his engagements with 
respect to Burgundy, Francis replied by summoning at Cognac a 
meeting of deputies from that duchy, who declared, in the presence 
of the Spanish envoys, that the king had no right to alienate the 
province from his crown ; that his coronation oath made such a 
step impossible ; and that nothing should ever induce them to re- 
nounce their integral union Avith the kingdom of France. The 
king, however, announced himself ready to give efi^ect to all the 
other stipulations, and, in lieu of the cession of Burgundy, offered 
the emperor an indemnity of two millions of croAvns. Charles, 
thus finding himself duped, broke out into violent reproaches, up- 
braided Francis Avith a flagrant breach of faith and honor, and re- 
quired him, if he had any value for his pledged Avord as a knight 
and a sovereign, to surrender himself once more a prisoner. Fran- 
cis treated the summons Avith total unconcern ; he hastened his al- 
liance Avith the Pope, the Duke of Milan, and the Venetians, Avhich 
was soon published under the title of the " Holy League ;" and 
obtained from Clement VIL, as one of its provisions, a formal ab- 
solution from all oaths and engagements entered into with the em- 
peror during his personal constraint at Madrid. 



306 FRANCIS I. Chap. XIV. 

Thus it became evident that all the questions in dispute were 
once more to be submitted to the arbitration of the sword. Bour- 
bon, to Avhom Charles had promised the investiture of the duchy 
of Milan, took the command of the imperial troops in Lombardy 
in July, 1526 ; and being feebly opposed by the incapable Duke 
of Urbino, the general of the league, soon drove Francesco Sforza 
out of Milan. The French king exhibited none of his wonted en- 
ergy and daring ; it seemed as if his nerves had been paralyzed by 
the shock of his recent humiliation. He abandoned himself to 
pleasure, and to the fascinations of a new mistress, the'Duchess of 
Etampes. Bourbon failed not to profit by this inaction to strength- 
en his position in Lombardy. His army was paid by the most cru- 
el exactions from the inhabitants of Milan ; and having obtained 
a re-enforcement of 14,000 German lansquenets, he found himself 
far superior to any force that could be brought against him in It- 
aly. He pushed his advantage to the utmost. His German sol- 
diery, inflamed by the novel doctrines of Luther, clamored to be 
led against the Pope ; Bourbon either could not, or would not 
restrain their fanaticism ; and Europe now beheld the strange and 
scandalous spectacle of a direct attack upon the head of the Church 
made in the name and by the armies of the chief among the prin- 
ces of Christendom. Marching from Milan in January, 1527, in 
the depth of a rigorous winter, the imperial general took the road 
to Florence ; the Duke of Urbino concentrated his troops to de- 
fend that city; and Bourbon, making a detour toward Bologna, 
crossed the Apennines and invaded the States of the Church, al- 
though Clement had already concluded a truce with the Viceroy 
of Naples, and disbanded the greater part of his forces. Swelled 
by a multitude of adventurers and bandits scarcely less barbarous 
than the hordes of Alaric and Attila, the army of the emperor ar- 
rived under the walls of Kome on the 5th of May, and the next 
morning at daybreak advanced to the assault. Bourbon insisted 
on planting the first ladder with his own hands ; but scarcely had 
he set his foot on it when he was struck by a musket-shot. in tlie 
side, and fell back into the fosse mortally wounded. • His infuri- 
ated followers terribly avenged his fall ; they stormed the ram- 
parts, slaughtered the feeble garrison, and the Eternal City Avas 
thus abandoned to the lawless will of the bloodthirsty victors, and 
became for the space of seven months a scene of merciless vio- 
lence, pillage, and destruction. The helpless Pope was treated 
Avith gross indignity, and closely imprisoned in the Castle of St. 
Angelo. Charles, Avith grotesque hypocrisy, professed the deep- 
est distress at the misfortunes of the holy fother, and ordered pub- 
lic prayers in all the churches of Spain for his deliverance. 

Upon the news of tlie sack of Rome, Avhich excited universal 



A.D. 1528. DISASTERS OF THE FRENCH IN ITALY. 397 

horror, the kings of France and England renewed their friendly- 
engagements, and agreed upon a joint expedition to effect the lib- 
eration of the Pope. Lautrec was dispatched into Lombardy at 
the head of 900 lances and 20,000 infantry, and rapidly gained 
possession of Alessandria, Pavia, and Genoa, after which he march- 
ed southward, and on the 29th of April, 1528, made his appear- 
ance before Naples. Charles, alarmed by these energetic move- 
ments, restored the Pope to liberty upon payment of a ransom of 
250,000 ducats, together with a promise to do nothing contrary 
to the imperial interests in Italy. The French army now formed 
the blockade of Naples, while a Genoese fleet, commanded by a 
nephew of the famous Doria, engaged the Spaniards off Salerno, 
and inflicted on them a serious defeat. Every thing promised fa- 
vorably for the cause of Francis ; but a fatal act of indiscretion, 
on this as on so many other occasions, soon stripped him of all his 
advantage. The great Genoese admiral, Andrea Doria, who had 
already, in many a severe encounter, proved himself the able and 
faithful ally of France, petitioned Francis to restore to his native 
city certain franchises and commercial privileges deeply affecting 
its prosperity. The king, misled by his ignorant and corrupt fa- 
vorites, not only negatived his request, but even sent out a French 
officer to supersede him in his command, and place hini under ar- 
rest. Doria, justly indignant, forthwith passed over to the service 
of the emperor with his whole squadron. The French were now 
outnumbered by the Spanish naval force, and found themselves un- 
able to maintain the blockade of Naples. Provisions were con- 
veyed to the garrison by sea, while at the same time a terrible ep- 
idemic disease broke out in the camp of Lautrec, and that brave 
general himself fell a victim to its fury. The Marquis de Saluces, 
succeeding to the command of an army already half destroyed by 
pestilence, threw himself into Aversa, where he was soon com- 
pelled to capitulate, and he and all his officers surrendered them- 
selves prisoners of war. Scarcely 5000 soldiers, out of 30,000 
whom Lautrec had led to Naples, survived to re-enter France. 

To make the disaster more complete, Doria, returning to Genoa 
with his victorious fleet, excited a revolutionary movement in that 
city, expelled the French, and restored the republican form of gov- 
ernment, of which he himself became the head, under the protec- 
tion of the emperor. French influence was never re-established 
at Genoa from that time till the era of the great Revolution. 

§ 1 L The war had now lasted with scarcely any intermission for 
upward of eight years. France was exhausted by her immense 
losses and sacrifices; and even the king himself, reluctantly ad- 
mitting the superiority of his great rival, began to feel that lie had 
small chance of making good his pretensions on the Italian side of 



308 FRANCIS I. CiiAP. XIV. 

the Alps. Charles, on his part, threatened on one side with the 
outbreak of an insurrectionary war among the German Protest- 
ants, and harassed on the other by the bold aggressions of* the 
Turks under their Sultan Solyman, was by no means indisposed to 
a termination of hostilities in the West, especially since his recent 
successes. Under these circumstances, a meeting was arranged in 
July, 1529, at the imperial city of Cambrai, between Marguerite of 
Austria, regent of the Netherlands, the emperor's aunt, and the 
Duchess of Angouleme, mother of the King of France ; and with- 
out the intervention of any other agents, these fair diplomatists 
signed, after a month's deliberation, the conditions of a definitive 
peace, Avhicli has become celebrated as the "Paix des Dames." 
The treaty of Madrid Avas taken as the basis of the new arrange- 
ment, but with one important modification : Charles forbore to in- 
sist on the cession of Burgundy, and accepted from Francis the in- 
demnity formerly offered of two millions of crowns. In all other 
jDoints the terms remained unaltered ; and Francis consequently 
made an absolute surrender of all his rights in Italy, yielded up 
Flanders and Artois,' bound himself to engage in no projects hos- 
tile to" the emperor, Avhether in Italy or elsewhere, and to assist 
Charles, when called upon, Avith a fleet and a subsidy of 200,000 
crowns. The young French princes, Avho had been kept as hos- 
tages in Spain, Avere to be immediately restored ; and Francis Avas 
to celebrate at once his marriage Avith Eleanora, queen doAvager 
of Portugal, sister of the emperor. These two latter articles Avere 
not carried into effect till July, 1530. 

The peace of Cambrai Avas a severe humiliation to a prince so 
ambitious, so proud, and so sensitive on the point of honor as 
Francis I. Italy, the rich prize for which France had been so 
pertinaciously struggling during three successive reigns, Avas thus 
finally abandoned to the rival house of Austria, and remained 
from that day to the time of Napoleon I. either subject to the 
dominion or to the predominant influence of the German emper- 
ors. Francis, by consenting to this treaty, entailed on himself a 
fatal loss of prestige and reputation, not only from the severe 
terms imposed on him, but because he meanly sacrificed all his 
allies to the necessity of obtaining peace. 

§ 12. It Avas during the interval of tranquillity procured by the 
treaty of Cambrai that the attention of Francis Avas first seriously 
called to that extraordinary movement of the human mind Avhich 
resulted in the ever-memorable Keformation. The novel doctrines 
first broached in Germany had spread Avith rapidity into the neigh- 
boring countries, and so early as tlie year 1521 the heresy of Lu- 
ther had been condemned by a solemn sentence of tlie Faculty of 
Theology at Paris. The innovators took refuge at INIeaux, Avhere 



A.D. 1534, 1535. PERSECUTION Oi' THE EEFORMEES. 309 

they "were protected by Bri9onnet, bishop of that see, a prelate full 
of the reforming spirit ; and under his influence, the king's sister 
Marguerite, afterward Queen of Navarre, conceived a strong at- 
tachment to the party. They also found a pow^erful patron in the 
king's favorite mistress, the Duchess of Etampes. The authorities, 
both lay and clerical, soon took the alarm, and resorted to extreme 
measures of persecution. Francis himself was by his natural dis- 
position inclined to tolerance ; but the representations and coun- 
sels of Duprat, who had entered into holy orders and had been 
lately named a cardinal, led him to change his policy ; and taking- 
advantage of a popular commotion at Paris, caused by the prof- 
anation of an image of the Virgin, the king ordered several exe- 
cutions both in the capital and the provinces. Louis de Berquin, 
a man of station and considerable learning, who had translated 
some important treatises of Luther and Erasmus, Avas condemned 
at this time by tlie Parliament of Paris, and burnt as a heretic on 
the Place de Greve. But, in spite of these severities, the ferment 
still continued to increase. In 1534, the fanatics, inflamed by the 
example of the Anabaptist insurrection at Miinster, proceeded to 
great lengths of audacity and insolence ; they covered the walls 
of Paris with violent tirades against the mass and transubstantia- 
tion, and one of these placards was even found posted up in the 
bedchamber of Francis in the castle of Blois. This insult pro- 
duced a fresh and still more ruthless persecution. Li January, 
1535, the king presided at a solemn ceremonial of expiation at 
Paris, after which six wretched victims were committed to the 
flumes Avith horrible refinements of torture; a machine had been 
invented by which they Avere alternately loAvered into the fire and 
AvithdraAvn again, so as to prolong their sufferings to the utmost. 
These cruelties Avere continued during several months; until at 
length Francis, finding it advisable to cultivate the friendship of 
the Lutheran princes of Germany in the prospect of a renewed 
conflict with the Emperor Charles, Avas induced to relent, and ad- 
dress a manifesto to the sovereigns of the Reformed states full of 
professions of moderation and clemency. In truth, the intense 
hatred borne by Francis to the emperor and his dynasty — the 
great master-spring of his conduct — involved him in continual in- • 
consistencies and contradictions. We find him, under the impulse 
of this motive, alternately negotiating Avith the Protestant leaguers 
of Smalcalde, courting the alliance of the Pope, cultivating inti- 
mate relations with Henry of England, and CA-en concluding friend- 
ly treaties Avith the infidel Sultan of Constantinople. These anom- 
alous proceedings Avere all prompted by the same principle — that 
of endeavoring to Aveaken and isolate his adA^ersary, Avhile he 
strengthened himself for a recommencement of their deadly strife. 



310 FKANCIS I. Chap. XIV. 

By way of propitiating the favor of the Pope, Francis proposed 
a marriage between his second son, Henry, duke of Orleans, and 
Catharine de' Medici, daughter of the late Duke of Urbino, and a 
relative of Clement. The Pope, flattered by the oifer of so splendid 
a family connection, testified his satisfaction by proceeding in per- 
son to France to celebrate the nuptials ; and this union, fraught 
with such memorable consequences, took place at Marseilles on the 
28th of October, 1533. The advantages, however, which Francis 
had expected from this alliance with the sovereign pontiff were 
not destined to be realized ; Clement VII. died in the following 
year, and Paul III., his successor, was by no means disposed to 
join the cause of France in opposition to the emperor. 

The Protestant leaders, meanwhile, had learned with indignant 
liorror the atrocities pi'acticed by the king's orders against their 
brethren at Paris. From that moment they showed themselves 
des^irous to effect an accommodation with the emperor; and sev- 
eral treaties follovi^ed, by which Charles conceded their principal 
demands, and the cause of the Reformation was greatly advanced 
in Germany. Francis perceived his error, but it was too late to 
repair it. lie hastened to Avrite to the German princes in appro- 
bation of the Confession of Augsburg; he invited Melancthon to 
take up his residence in France ; he even published an edict re- 
storing to liberty all persons imprisoned for holding the Keformed 
doctrines ; but Avas never able to regain the confidence he had for- 
feited by his fluctuating policy and savage intolerance. 

§ 13. The first act tending to a rupture of the peace of Cam- 
brai was committed, or at least instigated, by the emperor. The 
Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, having shown a desire to culti- 
vate the good-will of the King of France, Francis had sent a con- 
fidential agent, named Maraviglia, to reside at Milan. The em- 
peror, on discovering this, remonstrated angrily with Sforza, and 
insisted on the dismissal of the envoy. The duke dared not dis- 
obey; Maraviglia was suddenly arrested on an unjust and frivo- 
lous pretense, thrown into a dungeon, and beheaded without trial 
(July 6, 1533). Francis, beyond measure indignant, appealed to 
the powers of Europe against the outrage, and determined to 
avenge it by force of arms. War was not immediately declared ; 
but in the summer of 1535 Francis suddenly advanced a claim, 
without a shadow of justice, to the duchy of Savoy, and poured 
his forces into that country, as a prelude to an invasion of the 
Milanese. At this moment Francesco Sforza died, leaving no 
lieirs, and the duchy of Milan reverted to Charles as an imperial 
fief. Francis forthwith sent to demand the investiture for his 
second son, the Duke of Orleans ; the emperor replied by offering 
to grant the duch}' to the Duke of Angouleme, third son of 



A.D. 1535. • CHARLES INVADES PROVENCE. 3II 

Francis, but upon condition that the French troops, which liad al- 
ready overrun the whole of Savoy and Piedmont, should at once 
evacuate those territories. These terms were rejected, and both 
parties prepared for the inevitable prosecution of hostilities. 

Charles, whose recent triumphs had inspired him with unbound- 
ed self-confidence, expressed the utmost disdain for the military 
resources and tactics of his adversary, and, vowing that he would 
bring the King of France as low as the poorest gentleman in his 
dominions, he crossed the Var and invaded Provence, at the head 
of 50,000 men, on the 25th of July. The French army, led by 
the Constable Montmorency, took post at Avignon, which com- 
mands both the Rhone and the Durance. The population was 
ordered to retire into the fortified towns ; property and provisions 
of all kinds were hastily withdrawn, and the entire district in the 
route of the advancing enemy was then mercilessly laid waste by 
the French themselves, so that Provence presented in the course 
of a few days the most deplorable spectacle of desolation. Flour- 
ishing towns — G-rasse,'^Digne, Draguignan, Antibes, Toulon — were 
set'on fii-e and reduced to ashes ; the inhabitants fled to the mount- 
ains, where thousands perished from exposure, privation, and hun- 
ger. The march of the invaders was unopposed ; but it became 
every day more and more diiRcult to subsist the troops, and on 
reaching Aix, the capital, where he had intended to take tri- 
umphant possession of the kingdom of Provence, Charles found 
it, to his great dismay, totally depopulated and abandoned ; every 
thing had been removed or destroyed that could be of the slightest 
use or value to a conqueror. Famine, and its never-failing con- 
sequence, contagious disease, soon made fearful havoc in the im- 
perial ranks. It was attempted to besiege Aries and Marseilles ; 
but in each case the assailants were beaten off with severe loss ; 
and the emperor, hearing at this moment of the arrival of Francis 
in his intrenched camp before Avignon, and apprehending an at- 
tack with overwhelming numbers, reluctantly gave orders to com- 
mence a retreat. Such a movement, under such circumstances, 
must needs be disastrous ; the army, already miserably wasted by 
the pestilence, became disorganized ; and before Charles reached 
the frontier on the 25th of September he had lost at least half his 
entire force. From Genoa he set sail for Spain, with feelings con- 
siderably lowered from that tone of contemptuous and reckless 
arrogance with which he had entered the French territory only 
two short months before. 

It was during this campaign that Francis had the misfortune 
to lose his eldest son, the dauphin. The young prince expired 
somewhat suddenly at Tournon on the lOtli of August; and his 
father, in the bitterness of his grief, accused the emperor, without 



312 FRANCIS I. 'Chap. XIV. 

the smallest proof or probability, of having procured his removal 
by poison. The Irapei-ialists, in their turn, charged the crime, no 
less absurdly, on the young Duchess of Orleans, Catharine de' 
Medici. The dauphin's death was in fact occasioned by drinking 
immoderately of iced v^^ater after heating himself at the game of 
tennis. One of the officers of his household, the Count Montecu- 
culi, fell a victim to the king's groundless suspicions and vindictive 
rage : the rack forced from him an avowal that he had been sub- 
orned by the emperor, and he was executed with cruel tortures as 
a traitor. The Duke of Orleans now succeeded his brother as 
dauphin and heir-apparent to the throne. 

Hostilities were carried on during this and the following year 
in a desultory manner, and Avithout results of any great import- 
ance. The humane exertions of Pope Paul III. at length suc- 
ceeded in bringing about an accommodation. He repaired in per- 
son to Nice, and became the medium of communication betAveen 
the two belligerents, who declined to meet each other even in his 
presence. Such were the pride and obstinacy on both sides, that 
a definitive peace was found impracticable ; but a truce for ten 
years was signed on the 18tli of June, 1538, in virtue of which 
each sovereign was to retain all of which he was actually in pos- 
session. This arrangement left the emperor master of the Milan- 
ese, Avhile Savoy and the greater part of Piedmont remained in the 
hands of the French. Shortly after this pacification the two mon- 
archs held an interview, upon the invitation of the emperor, at 
Aigues Mortes in Provence, where, in strange and sudden contrast 
to so many years of bitter personal animosity and sanguinary Avar- 
fare, they lavished on each other every mark of friendship, es- 
teem, and confidence. 

§ 14. The result of the good understanding thus established soon 
appeared in a change in the policy of Francis. He withdrew his 
countenance from the Protestants, broke oiF his relations with 
Henry Vin., and ceased to cultivate the alliance of the Ottoman 
Porte. Pertinaciously bent on his favorite object, the acquisition 
of the duchy of Milan, he sought in every Avay to conciliate and 
gratify the emperor ; and the revolt of Ghent, in 1539, presented 
an opportunity of conferring an obligation on his ancient rival 
which he was not slow to embrace. The rebellious burghers sent 
a deputation to the king, promising, in retui-n for his support, to 
restore the sovereignty of France in Ghent and other cities of 
Flanders. Francis not only rejected the temptation, but imme- 
diately informed the emperor of the transaction, and offered him 
an honorable passage through France, in case he should desire to 
take that route in proceeding to the Netherlands. The proposal 
was gladly accepted. The emperor crossed the liidassoa ; and 



A. D. 1540-1544. ALLIANCE WITH THE TURKS. 3I3 

Francis sent the dauphin and the Duke of Orleans, together with 
the Constable Montmorency, to meet him at Bayonne. Through- 
out his journey, wliich was made by slow stages, he was welcomed 
with acclamations and entertained with splendid festivities. Fran- 
cis himself received him at Loches, and they entered Paris in com- 
pany on the 1st of January, 1540. It was on this occasion that 
the court fool of Francis inscribed the emperor's name at the head 
of the members of his own fraternity — a distinction which he said 
that Charles had merited by his rashness in venturing into France. 
" And how if I should allow him to depart freely ?" inquired Fran- 
cis. "In that case," returned the jester, "I shall erase the em- 
peror's name, and put yours in its place." The king was indeed 
urged by several confidential advisers, among others by the Duch- 
ess of Etampes, to detain his rival, now that he had him in his 
power, and insist upon full satisfaction for all his demands. Fran- 
cis, however, acted on this occasion as became a man of honor and 
generous feeling. He trusted his imperial guest, and exacted no 
security beyond his word ; and Charles, accompanied by the king 
as far as St. Quentin, pursued his journey in safety to the frontier, 
and reached Ghent on the 6th of February. But when the em- 
bassadors of Francis requested his imperial majesty to give effect 
to the engagements so lately entered into Avith their master, he 
protested that he had promised nothing, and Francis found him- 
self an object of ridicule for his blind credulity. Deeply morti- 
fied and incensed, he seems to have resolved from that moment on 
I'enewing the war at the first opportunity. 

§ 15. A few months later, Charles, on his side, took a decisive 
step toward a rupture by conferring on his son Philip the investi- 
ture of the duchy of Milan. Francis now formed an alliance with 
the Turkish Sultan Solyman, and in 1542 declared war against the 
emperor. The celebrated Algerine corsair Barbarossa, with 110 
ships of war, joined the Fi-ench fleet, under the Count d'Enghien, 
at Marseilles, in May, 1543 ; and Christian Europe beheld with 
amazement this strange association of the lilies of France with 
the ensigns of the infidel. The confederates advanced in August 
to besiege Nice, the only remaining fortress of the Duke of Sa- 
voy. Nice surrendered, and was sacked and burnt in spite of 
the capitulation ; and Barbarossa, after wintering at Toulon, set 
sail for Constantinople, carrying with him no less than 14,000 
Christian slaves Avhom he had captured by piracy on the Italian 
coasts. 

In Piedmont the arms of France were at length crowned with 
something of her ancient glory. The Count d'Enghien attacked 
the Imperialists at Cerisolles on the 14tli of April, 1544, and gain- 
ed a brilliant and complete victory. The enemy lost upward of 

O 



314 FRANCIS I. CiiAi'.XIV. 

12,000 men, and tlieir artillery, standards, stores, and baggage re- 
mained in the hands of the victors. 

Unfortunately, the state of affairs in other quarters was such as 
to prevent Francis from following up this advantage. The King 
of England, who had been for some time vacillating in policy, de- 
clared for the emperor, and signed a treaty with him in February, 
1543, by which it Avas agreed that the two sovereigns should march 
simultaneously upon Paris, and, after taking possession of that 
capital, make a partition of the kingdom of France between them. 
Henry VIII. landed at Calais in July, 1544, with 30,000 men, and 
laid siege to Montreuil and Boulogne ; while the emperor, invad- 
ing at the same moment the frontier of Champagne, attacked the 
town of St. Dizier-sur-Marne. This small town nobly resisted 
for six weeks the efforts of the whole imperial army, and hence gave 
Francis time to concentrate a powerful army, with which he cov- 
ered the approaches to the capital ; and although the Imperialists, 
after the fall of St. Dizier, advanced on the road to Paris as far as 
Meaux, they did not venture to hazard an attack on the greatly 
superior forces which opposed them. They now abandoned their 
forward movement, turned northward, and encamped at Crespy, 
near Compiegne. Here Chai'les opened negotiations with Fi'ancis, 
and the terms of a definitive peace were arranged between them 
on the 18th of September. It was agreed to make mutual resti- 
tution of whatever had been taken since the truce of Nice ; and 
the King of France renounced once more his rights to Naples and 
his sovereignty in Flanders. The emperor, on his side, engaged to 
bestow in marriage on the Duke of Orleans either his own daugh- 
ter Mary, with the Netherlands for dowry, or a daughter of his 
brother Ferdinand, with the investiture of the duchy of Milan ; 
the choice to be determined by the emperor within four months. 
Savoy was to be surrendered by France at the same time that the 
treaty of marriage should be cai-ried into effect. Lastly, the two 
sovereigns bound themselves to make strenuous and combined ex- 
ertions for the welfare of the Church, and the re-establishment and 
propagation of the one true faith. This latter article contains 
probably the explanation of the emperor's policy in granting terms 
so advantageous to France. The Eeformation was advancing Avith 
rapid strides ; and Charles felt that, if the torrent of innovation 
was ever to be effectually arrested, it could only be by strict union 
and vigorous co-operation among the powers which remained 
faithful to the ancient system. He had already arranged with the 
Pope the project of convoking a general council for the restora- 
tion of peace to the Church, and, now that the main obstacle to 
its meeting was removed by the reconciliation between himself 
and Francis, it was summoned to assemble at Trent in tlie follow- 
ing year (1545). 



A.D. 15^6, 1547. PERSECUTION OF THE PEOTESTANTS. 315 

By a singular fatality, the Duke of Orleans was carried off by a 
contagious malady within a year after the peace was concluded, 
and thus the questions in debate between France and the empire, 
which had already cost Europe so many years of bloody and dis- 
astrous conflict, were once more reopened in all their extent. 

Henry VIII., who, after a lengthened siege, had succeeded in re- 
dncing Boulogne, refused to be included in the ti'eaty of Crespy, 
and hostilities therefore continued between England and P^rance. 
The dauphin attempted unsuccessfully to recover Boulogne ; and 
in 1545 Francis equipped a numerous fleet at Havre de Grace, with 
which he made a descent upon the Isle of Wight. Several naval 
combats took place, with indecisive result ; neither energy nor skill 
were displayed on either side ; and after another year of fruitless 
warfare Henry signified his willingness to treat for peace. By tho 
terms, signed on the 7th of June, 1546, the King of England en- 
gaged to restore Boulogne within eight years, for a payment of two 
millions of crowns. Henry, however, did not live to execute this 
treaty. Pie expired a few months later, in January, 1547. 

§ 16. Francis disgraced the concluding years of his reign by 
measures of the most barbarous severity towai-d the unfortunate 
Protestants of Provence. The Vaudois, as they were called, a 
simple, inoffensive, and loyal population, inhabited a few obscure 
towns and villages in the vicinity of Avignon and Aix. Orders 
were suddenly sent down to the Parliament of Provence, in Janu- 
ary, 1545, to exterminate these helpless peasants, who were de- 
nounced as dangerous heretics ; and the sentence was at once ex- 
ecuted with a ferocious cruelty unparalleled in history. Three 
towns and twenty-two hamlets were totally destroyed ; three thou- 
sand of their inhabitants, among whom were numbers of women 
and children, unresistingly butchered in cold blood ; seven hund- 
red condemned for life to the galleys. Similar horrors were re- 
newed in the following year at Meaux, where sixty of the Reform- 
ed Church, all mechanics or peasants, were sentenced to various 
degrees of rigorous punishment, and fourteen were burnt together 
at the stake. Such wex'e the first fruits of the late compact be- 
tween the French king and the emperor, which inaugurated a great 
and vigorous reaction toward Catholicism, to be maintained at 
whatever price and by the most odious means. The only excuse 
for P>ancis, if excuse it can be deemed, is the fact that his temper 
had now become soured and morose, and his intellect overclouded 
and debased, by a painful malady, the result of his licentious hab- 
its, under which he had labored for several years. 

This distemper gradually undermined his constitution, and at 
length brought him to his grave. P^ancis breathed his last at the 
chateau of Kambouillet on the 31st of March, 1547, in the fifty^r 



316 FRANCIS I. Chap. XIV. 

third year of his age and the thirty-third of his reign. In his 
parting counsels to his successor he enjoined him to exclude Mont- 
morency from all posts of authority, and, above all, to curb with 
a strong hand the rising power and ambition of the Guises. 
" Thi-ee of this monarch's deeds," says Marshal Tavannes, "have 
justly procured for him the title of Great : the victory of Marig- 
nano, the restoration of letters, and his single-handed resistance to 
the combined powers of Europe." 

The besetting fault of the administration of Francis I., and that 
which led to his most serious revei'ses, was that of allowing him- 
self to be controlled, even in the most important affairs, by female 
influence, and by shallow-minded and incapable favorites. His 
mother, Louisa of Savoy, in the earlier part of the reign, ruled the 
state at her pleasure ; and to her must be attributed the treason 
of Bourbon and the loss of the Milanese. Madame de Chateau- 
briand established a shameful traffic in appointments of all kinds — 
military, political, and civil — by which the public service became 
miserably corrupt. The Duchess of Etampes leagued with the 
Duke of Orleans against his father and the dauphin, and was base 
enough to reveal the king's secrets to the emperor at the most 
critical period of the war. The elevation of such men as Bonni- 
vet and Montmorency to posts for which they were manifestly mi- 
fit betrayed a similar weakness, and produced equally pernicious 
results. 

With regard, however, to the great leading feature of his reign, 
the war with the house of Austria, it must be allowed that Fran- 
cis displayed a sagacious conception of the real interests of France, 
and well deserves the reputation generally accorded to him as one 
of her greatest monarchs. The enormous power and formidable 
pi'ojects of the empei-or threatened the independence not only of 
France, but of all Europe. Francis struggled for near thirty years 
to vindicate and preserve that independence ; and to have main- 
tained a contest so severe and so protracted, leaving France at the 
close of it not only undiminished, but even augmented in territory, 
resources, and renown, is no ordinary praise. The title of " the 
Father of Letters and the Arts," by which this prince is popular- 
ly known in history, points to another and a nobler sphere of ac- 
tion, in which he undoubtedly merited the admiration and grati- 
tude of France and of the civilized world. Francis was an ener- 
getic and munificent promoter of that great intellectual revival 
which was one of the most memorable characteristics of his age. 
He was the friend, protector, and patron of the learned Bude, or 
Buda3us, the first Greek scholar of his day ; of Scaliger, and of the 
famous printer Robert Stephens ; of the satirist Rabelais, and the 
Calvinist poet Clement Marot ; of the painters Leonardo da Vinci, 



A.D. 1547. LIBERALITY OF FRANCIS. 317 

Andrea del Sarto, Salviati, and Primaticcio ; of the sculptors Ben- 
venuto Cellini and Jean Goujon. The public edifices of the reign 
are so many splendid monuments of the glories of the Renaissance. 
MVe owe to the liberality of Francis, and the skill and taste of his 
artists, the sumptuous palaces of Fontainebleau, St. Germain, and 
Chambord ; and the smaller but exquisitely elegant chateaux of 
Chenonceaux, Azay-le-Eideau, Villers-Cotterets, and Anet. 

Francis was also the founder of the Royal College of France, or 
Trilingual College, for gratuitous instruction in languages, mathe- 
matics, philosophy, and the physical sciences. The king edeavor- 
ed, but without success, to induce the celebrated Erasmus to ac- 
cept the presidency of this institution. 



318 



HOUSES OF LORRAINE AND GUISE. 



Chap. XV. 



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CHAPTER XV. 
HENRY II. A.D. 1547-1559. 

§ 1 . Influence of the Guises ; their History. § 2. Betrothment of Mary, 
Queen of Scots, to the Dauphin ; Renewal of the War with Charles V. ; 
Alliance with the Protestants of Germany. § 3. Metz, Toul, and Verdun 
conquered and annexed to France. §4. Treaty of Passau; Siege of Metz; 
Repulse of Charles. § 5. Abdication of Charles V. ; Expedition of the 
Duke of Guise into Italy ; its Failure ; Defeat of the French by the Duke 
of Savoy. § 6. Capture of Calais by the French. § 7. Peace of Cateau- 
Cambresis ; Death of Henry. §8. Progress of the Reformation in France. 

§ 1. Henky II., who ascended the throne in the twenty-ninth 
year of his age, possessed several of the defects, together with few 
of the excellent redeeming qualities, of his father. He was a 
prince of dull understanding and feeble character; his sole ac- 
complishment consisted in a remarkable expertness in bodily ex- 
ercises. Disregarding the death-bed admonitions of his father, 
he abruptly dismissed the ministers of the late reign, and gave his 
entire confidence to the Constable Montmorency and to Francis, 
count of Aumale, afterward Duke of Guise. Their influence, 
however, was equaled, if not overbalanced, by that of Henry's 
mistress, Diana of Poitiers. This lady, the widow of the Count 
de Breze, grand seneschal of Normandy, had preserved her dis- 
tinguished beauty at the mature age of forty-eight, and exercised 
an almost absolute ascendant over her lover. The young queen, 
Catharine de' Medici, remained throughout the reign neglected and 
without autlioritv. 



320 HENRY II. Chap. XV. 

The family of Guise, which now began to occupy so prominent 
a position in the state, was a younger branch of the sovereign 
house of Lorraine, and had for its founder Claude, first Duke of 
Guise, the fifth son of Kene II., duke of Lorraine. This prince, 
who married a daughter of the house of Bourbon, and served with 
high distinction in the wars of Francis I., left seven sons, the eld- 
est of whom, Francis, succeeded him as Duke of Guise, while 
Charles, the second, became Archbishop of Reims, and afterward 
Cardinal of Lorraine. His eldest daughter, Mary of Lorraine, 
married James V. of Scotland, and at the time of the accession of 
Henry II. possessed a large share in the government of that king- 
dom during the minority of her daughter, Mary Stuart. Being 
descended, through females, from the princes of Anjou, the Guises 
maintained vague pretensions to the inheritance of their ancestors, 
including even the throne of the Two Sicilies and Jerusalem. In 
addition to these -advantages of illustrious lineage and lofty con- 
nections, both Francis of Guise and his bi'other the cardinal were 
men of remarkable capacity, though of very different dispositions. 
The duke was an able military commander, a bold and sagacious 
politician, and of a frank, candid, magnanimous character; the 
churchman was slu'ewd and subtle, learned, eloquent, and insinua- 
ting, and possessed consummate powers of dissimulation. Every 
thing concurred to place them among the foremost statesmen of 
the age. 

§ 2. The policy of the Guises, conceived with boldness and abil- 
ity, tended strongly toward a renewal of the contest with the em- 
peror ; and although Charles had now reached the summit of his 
prosperous fortunes, and had recently gained the decisive victory 
of Muhlberg over the Protestant princes, the ministers of Henry 
actively intrigued against him in various quarters, and made prep- 
arations which showed that they were fully detei'mined upon war. 
Some time elapsed, however, before hostilities were declared ; and 
during this interval the Guises skillfully profited by their family 
connection with the royal house of Scotland to establish the com- 
plete ascendency of the French alliance in that country. 

The young queen, Mary Stuart, was already promised in mar- 
riage to Edward VI. of England ; but when summoned to fulfill 
the treaty, the queen dowager and the Regent Arran, Avho, as Cath- 
olics, were strongly opposed to the Protestant connection, returned 
an absolute denial. The Protector Somerset enforced his demand 
by marching an army into Scotland, and the Scots w^ere totally de- 
feated at* the sanguinary battle of Pinkie. But this victory, in- 
stead of furthei'ing the views of the English court, only determined 
the regent and his council to throw themselves on the protection 
and demand the armed assistance of France. ]Mary of Lorraine 
negotiated with her brotlier, and, as both parties had at heart the 



A.D. loi7-1551. HISTORY AND POLICY OF THE GUISES. 321 

game object, it was soon arranged that the Queen of Scots should 
be affianced to the Dauphin Francis, eldest son of Henry, and 
should be sent to reside and be educated in France until the pe- 
riod of her marriage. A French squadron entered the Frith of 
Forth in June, 1548, and, having landed a body of troops, sailed 
round the northern coasts of Scotland, and took on board the young 
queen and her suite at Dumbarton Castle. The flotilla then ti^av- 
ersed St. George's Channel, and arrived in safety at Brest. This 
proceeding, which opened a direct prospect of the annexation of 
the crown of Scotland at some futui*e day to that of France, was 
immediately followed by a rupture between Henry and the En- 
glish ; and the French king, invading the territory of Boulogne, 
made himself master of several fortresses along the sea-coast dur- 
ing the summer of 1549. Boulogne was threatened, and the En- 
glish, feeling themselves too weak to sustain a siege, at length 
agreed to surrender the place for the sum of 400,000 crowns, in- 
stead of the two millions stipulated by the former treaty of 1546. 
Other articles having been ai-ranged, peace was proclaimed between 
England, France, and Scotland on the 24th of March, 1550, and 
Henry made his public entry into Boulogne amid universal joy 
and congratulations. 

Thus strengthened by an advantageous peace with England, and 
successful in their project with regard to the Scottish crown, the 
advisers of Henry j udged that the moment had arrived for open 
and decided measures against the emperor. Charles, as we have 
said, was at this time at the zenith of absolute power; but, in or- 
der to perpetuate this mighty despotism, he was anxious to secure 
the succession to the empire for his son Philip. This scheme ex- 
cited fresh alarm and agitation throughout Germany, and led to 
the most formidable combination against the emperor that he had 
yet encountered during his long career. In 1551 a powerful 
champion of the cause of civil and religious independence appear- 
ed unexpectedly in the person of the celebrated Maurice, elector 
of Saxony. This remarkable personage had hitherto been one of 
Charles's warmest supporters and most trusted lieutenants ; but 
at length, disgusted by a tyranny which became more and more in- 
tolerable, and impelled likewise by strong motives of personal am- 
bition, he resolved to place himself at the head of the great Prot- 
estant confederacy, and embark in a desperate attempt to achieve 
the liberation of Germany. Maurice was at this time in command 
of the imperial forces which Avere besieging Magdeburg; and so 
complete were the duplicity and secrecy of his proceedings, that 
liis fidelity to the emperor does not seem to have been in the slight- 
est degree suspected when he signed a treaty of alliance with the 
King of France, on the 5th of October, 1551. In this engagement 

O 2 



322 HENRY II. Chap. XV. 

no mention was made of the great question of religious reform ; 
since Henry, as the "eldest son of the Church,"' could not with 
decency avow that he was about to take arms in defense of here- 
tics. The professed object of the contracting parties (among whom 
were several other princes of the empire besides Maurice) was to 
resist the dangerous attempts made by the emperor to "reduce 
Germany to a state of insupportable and perpetual slavery, as he 
had already succeeded in doing in Spain and other countries." 

Henry promised to furnish immense subsidies to his new allies, 
who on their part bound themselves to conclude neither truce nor 
peace with the emperor without the consent of the King of France. 
It was farther agreed that Henry should make a diversion in their 
favor by invading Lorraine ; he was to take possession of the dis- 
trict called the " Trois Eveches," comprising the towns of Metz, 
Toul, and Verdun, which had from ancient times formed part of 
the empire, though in language and geographical position belong- 
ing to France. Henry had long coveted this acquisition, and now 
stipulated that he should retain it under the somewhat inconsist- 
ent title of " Vicar of the Holy Empire." 

§ 3. The confederates took the field early in the spring of 1552. 
The Elector Maurice, having published a manifesto in vindication 
of his conduct, marched against the emperor, who at this time lay 
confined to his bed by illness at Innsbruck ; and such was the i-a- 
pidity of his movements, that Charles had barely time to save him- 
self from being taken prisoner by a precipitate flight across the 
mountains into Carinthia. In the mean time, Henry, having as- 
sumed the high-sounding appellation of "Protector of the Liber- 
ties of Germany," joined his army at Chalons-sur-Marne, and took 
the road to Metz. The regency Avas intrusted to Queen Catha- 
rine ; and various executions of persons condemned for heresy were 
ordei'ed to take place immediately before the king's departure, as 
a practical proof that -he by no means designed to favor the new 
religion by associating himself with its chief propagators in other 
countries. Toul opened its gates Avithout resistance ; Metz and 
Verdun Avere gained by surprise ; and these three places, forming 
an important line of defense on the German frontier, became per- 
manently annexed to France. Flushed with success, Henry con- 
tinued his march upon Alsace, and made an attempt upon Stras- 
burg, Avhich, hoAvever, Avas decisively repulsed. Having " watered 
their horses in the Khine," the French retraced their steps into 
Lorraine, and thence proceeded to attack the imperial province of 
Luxemburg. Here their arms Avere successful, and several towns 
submitted after slight resistance. 

§ 4. The firm attitude and able generalship of Maurice, seconded 
by the bold demonstration of the French upon the Rhine, induced 



A.D. 1551-1553. CONFEDERACY AGAINST THE EMPEROR. 323 

the emperor, however reluctantly, to seek terms of accommodation 
with his revolted subjects. Negotiations commenced, and the re- 
sult was the famous treaty of Fassau, signed August 2, 1552, by 
which Charles conceded to the Protestants freedom of religious 
worship, and complete equality between the two forms of faith until 
the deiinitive sentence of a general council. Henry refused to be 
included in this pacification ; and the emperor, now left at liberty 
to concentrate his resources for a grand attack on his inveterate 
foe, prepared to call him to a severe account for his recent aggres- 
sion. The imperial army, 60,000 strong, with an immense train 
of artillery, crossed the Rhine in September, and toward the mid- 
dle of October laid siege to Metz, the recovery of which frontier 
fortress was Charles's main object. But meanwhile Henry had 
intrusted the command of Metz to the gallant Francis, duke of 
Guise, who was thirsting to signalize his name by some brilliant 
exploit of patriotic enterprise and military skill. Under his di- 
rections the old fortifications were thoroughly repaired ; the mag- 
azines were filled with immense quantities of provisions and stores; 
the garrison was largely re-enforced, and joined by all the best 
officers in France, including many noblemen of the highest rank, 
and even several princes of the blood royal ; in short, every pos- 
sible preparation was made for an obstinate defense. The siege 
of Metz is one of the most memorable episodes in the struggle be- 
tween the rival houses of France and Austria. For two months 
the Imperialists, led by their most renowned generals, the Duke 
of Alva and the Marquis of Marignano, battered the walls with a 
ceaseless cannonade, and exhausted all other resources of the art 
of war, with a total want of success. The defenders repaired by 
night the breaches effected by the enemy during the day ; they 
destroyed their mines, and harassed them by repeated and de- 
structive sorties. Thousands were slain by the Avell-directed fire 
from the ramparts ; and as the winter advanced, the besiegers 
suffered still greater losses from the pitiless severity of the weather, 
from sickness, hardship, and famine. The siege became at length 
evidently hopeless ; and Charles, bitterly observing that " For- 
tune, like the rest of her sex, favored the young and neglected 
those advanced in years," gave orders to abandon it. His army 
decamped from before Metz on the 11th of January, 1553. 

§ 5. The war continued during the two following years ; but 
both parties were now growing weary of a contest in which neither 
achieved any decisive superiority. The emperor's fortunate star 
seemed to have deserted him ; his bodily strength failed under the 
weight of years, anxiety, disappointment, and chronic disease ; and 
at length he determined to execute a design which he had been 
for some time maturing in his own mind, of abdicating his vast 



324 HENEY II, Chap. XV. 

dominions in favoi' of his son Philip and his brother Ferdinand. 
In October, 1555, Philip was declared sovereign of the Nether- 
lands and Franche-Comte ; in January, 1556, his father transfer- 
red to him the splendid crown of Spain and the Indies. 

Meantime Pope Paul IV., who detested the Spaniards and longed 
for the complete subversion of their power in the Peninsula, en- 
tered into a league with the French king against Philip ; Francis 
of Guise was encouraged in his favorite project of effecting a resto- 
ration of the crown of Naples to his own family, as the descend- 
ants of Rene of Anjou ; and in December, 1556, an army of 16,000 
men, commanded by the Duke of Guise, crossed the Alps, and, 
marching direct to Rome, prepared to attack the Spanish viceroy 
of Naples, the celebrated Duke of Alva. In April, 1557, Guise 
advanced into the Abruzzi, and besieged Civitella ; but here he 
encountered a determined resistance, and, after sacrificing a great 
part of his troops, found it necessary to abandon the attempt. Pie 
retreated toward Rome, closely pursued by the Duke of Alva ; and 
the result was that the expedition totally failed. Before his army 
could recover from the fatigues and losses of their fruitless cam- 
paign, the French general was suddenly recalled by a dispatch 
containing tidings of urgent importance from the north of Fi'ance. 

The Spanish army in the Netherlands, commanded by the Duke 
of Savoy, having been joined by a body of English auxiliaries un- 
der the Earl of Pembroke, had invaded France and laid siege to St. 
Quentin. This place was badly fortified, and defended by a feeble 
garrison under the Admii-al de Coligny. Montmorency advanced 
with the main army to re-enforce it, and on the lOtli of August 
rashly attacked the Spaniards, who outnumbered his own troops in 
the proportion of more than two to one, and inflicted on him a fatal 
and irretrievable defeat. The loss of the French amounted, ac- 
cording to most accounts, to 4000 slain in the field, while at least 
an equal number I'emained prisoners, including the Constable 
himself The road to Paris lay open to the victors ; and the Em- 
peror Charles, on receiving in his retirement the news of the event, 
impatiently demanded of the messengers whether his son had yet 
reached that capital. The Duke of Savoy Avas eager to advance ; 
but the cautious Philip, happily for France, rejected his advice, 
and ordered him to press the siege of St. Quentin. That town 
made a desperate resistance for more than a fortnight longer, and 
was captured by storm on the 27th of August, the gallant De Co- 
ligny being taken prisoner while fighting sword in hand in the 
breach. Philip took possession of a few other neighboring for- 
tresses, but attempted no serious movement in prosecution of his 
victory; and France, thus once more saved in a moment of ex- 
treme peril, was enabled to concentrate her vast resources, and or- 
ganize new means of self-defense. 



A.D. 1554-1558. FAILURE OF EXPEDITION INTO ITALY. 325 

§ 6. The Duke of Guise arrived from Italy early in October, to 
the great joy of the king and the nation, and was immediately 
created lieutenant-general of the kingdom, Avith powers of almost 
unlimited extent. He applied himself, with his utmost ability 
and perseverance, to repair the late disasters ; and with such suc- 
cess, that in less than two months he was enabled to assemble a 
fresh and well-appointed army at Compiegne. Kesolving to strike 
a vigorous blow before the enemy could reappear in the field, he 
detached a division of his army to make a feint in the direction 
of Luxemburg ; and rapidly marching westward with the remain- 
der, presented himself, on the 1st of January, 1558, before the 
walls of Calais. The English garrison had been recently dimin- 
ished, as the place was considered almost unassailable in winter 
by reason of the neighboring morasses. The French attack was 
a complete surprise ; the two advanced forts commanding the ap- 
proaches to the town were bombarded, and surrendered on the 3d 
of January ; three days later the castle was carried by assault ; 
and on the 8th, the governor. Lord Wentworth, was forced to 
capitulate, and yielded himself prisoner of war, together with fifty 
of the officers and principal inhabitants. The rest of the garrison 
and population were permitted to retire to England, but with the 
loss of their property, and the arms, stores, and artillery of the 
fortress, which Avere seized by the victors. Guines, no longer ten- 
able after the fall of Calais, shared the same fate on the 21st of 
January ; and thus, Avithin the short space of three Aveeks, were 
the last remnants of her ancient dominion on the Continent snatch- 
ed from the grasp of England — possessions Avhich she had held for 
upward of tAvo hundred years, and from Avhich she had so often 
l^oured forth her gallant hosts to dispute the supremacy of her rival. 

This remarkable exploit, so flattering to the national pride, cre- 
ated universal enthusiasm in France, and carried to the highest 
pitch the reputation and popularity of Guise. From this moment 
his influence became paramount ; and the marriage of the dauphin 
to the Queen of Scots, which AA^as solemnized on the 24th of April, 
1558, seemed to exalt the hou:?e of Lorraine to a still more tow- 
ering pinnacle of greatness. It Avas stipulated by a secret article 
of the marriage-contract that the sovei'eignty of Scotland should 
be transferred to France, and that the two croAvns should remain 
united forever, in case of the decease of Mary Avithout issue. 

§ 7. ToAvard the end of the year negotiations Avere opened Avith 
a view to peace. The main obstacle to the arrangement Avas the 
peremptory demand made by England, and supported by Philip, 
for the restitution of Calais and its dependencies. At this junc- 
ture, hoAA'ever, an event occurred, the results of Avliich produced a 
solution of the difliculty. Queen Mary of England expired on 



326 HENRY n. Chap. XV. 

the 17th of November, 1558; the conferences were immediately- 
suspended for some months ; and during this interval Philip saw 
enough of the policy and tendencies of Mary's successor, Elizabeth, 
to convince him that no cordial alliance was henceforth probable 
between Spain and England. The consequence was, that when 
the congi'ess reassembled at Le Cateau-Cambresis, in February, 
1559, the Spanish ministers no longer maintained the interests of 
England ; and Elizabeth, thus abandoned, agreed to an arrange- 
ment which virtually ceded Calais to France, though with such 
nominal qualifications as satisfied the sensitiveness of the national 
honor. Calais was to be restored to the English at the end of 
eight years, with a penalty, in case of failure, of 5OO,OO0 crowns. 
At the same time, if any hostile proceedings should take place on 
the part of England against France within the period specified, 
the queen was to forego all claim to the fulfillment of the article. 
Upon such vague and illusory terms peace was concluded between 
France and England on the 2d of April, 1559. The treaty be- 
tween Henry and Philip was signed on the following day. The 
conditions w^ere considered hard for France, and would probably 
not have been consented to but for the jealous intrigues of Mont- 
morency against the predominant influence of the house of Guise. 
The two monarchs mutually restored their conquests in Luxem- 
burg, the Netherlands, Picardy, and Artois ; France abandoned 
Savoy and Piedmont, with the exception of Turin and four other 
fortresses ; she evacuated Tuscany, Corsica, and Montferrat, and 
yielded up no less than 189 towns or fortresses in various parts 
of Europe. By way of compensation, Henry preserved the dis- 
trict of the " Trois Eveches" — Toul, Metz, and Verdun — and made 
the all-important acquisition of Calais. 

This pacification was sealed, according to custom, by marriages. 
Henry's daughter Elizabeth, who had formerly been affianced to 
Don Carlos, prince of Asturias, was now united to his father, 
Philip of Spain ; while the Princess Marguerite, sister to the 
French king, was given to Philibert Emanuel, duke of Savoy, to 
whose military talents Spain had been so largely indebted during 
the late war. Magnificent rejoicings took place at Paris during 
the summer of 1559, in celebration of these royal nuptials. Lists 
were ei'ected in front of the palace of the Tournelles; and a splen- 
did tournament w^as held, at which, on the 27th of June, the king 
himself, supported by the Duke of Guise and two other princes,^ 
maintained the field against all antagonists. Henry, Avho was an 
admirable cavalier, triumphantly carried off'the honors of the day; 
but toward the close of it, having unfortunately chosen to run a 
course Avith Montgomery, captain of his Scottish guards, the lance 
of tlie stout kniirht sliivered in the encounter, and the broken 



A. D. 1558-1559. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE. 327 

truncheon, entering the king's eye, penetrated to the brain. Hen- 
ry languished eleven days in great suffering, and expired on the 
10th of July, 1559, in the forty-first year of his age. 

§ 8. The Reformation made extraordinary progress in France 
during the latter years of the reign of Henry H. The first Prot- 
estant Church was established in Paris in 1555 ; others were 
founded successively at Rouen, Blois, Tours, Angers, Bourges, and 
La Rochelle ; and we are assured that in 1558 there were no less 
than 2000 places dedicated to the Reformed worship, and attend- 
ed by congregations numbering upward of 400,000.* The new 
sect acquired extensive influence and patronage among the higher 
orders of society. Its acknowledged chief Avas no less a personage 
than the first prince of the blood, Antoine de Bourbon, duke of 
Vendome, who had become King of Navarre by his marriage with 
Jeanne d'Albret, the heiress of that crown. His wife, who had 
been carefully educated in the Reformed doctrines by her mother, 
Marguerite of Valois, induced him to embrace her faith ; and his 
younger brother, Louis, prince of Conde, being in like manner con- 
verted by the example and persuasions of his wife, declared him- 
self a zealous member of the party. With these princes were as- 
sociated two nephews of the Constable Montmorency, the Admiral 
Gaspard de Coligny, and his brother Francois de Chatillon, better 
known as the Sire d'Andelot. A third brother, the Cardinal de 
Chatillon, although a prince of the Roman Church, inclined strong- 
ly toward the views of the Reformers, and encouraged them to the 
full extent allowed by his position. Growing bolder as they in- 
creased in numbers and credit, the Protestants began to hold tu- 
multuous meetings, and paradied the streets of the capital in bands 
of several hundreds and even thousands, chanting the metrical 
Psalms of Clement Marot. These and similar demonstrations, 
combined with the marvelous success of the Lutheran cause in 
Gei-many, inspired the French court with extreme disquietude and 
alarm ; and it would seem that the fear of religious revolution, 
more than any merely political consideration, determined Henry 
and Philip to accommodate their personal differences, and conclude 
the peace of Cateau-Cambresis. A secret compact on this occa- 
sion, between Cardinal Granvelle and the Cardinal of Lorraine, 
pledged the two sovereigns to adopt a system of unsparing rigor 
for the complete extirpation of heresy fi-om their dominions. A 
bull had already been dispatched from Rome, And sanctioned by 
the king, establishing in France a special tribunal, composed of 
three prelates, for the cognizance of offenses against religion ; but 
the Parliaments, both of Paris and the provinces, and the ordinary 
courts of justice, steadily resisted its execution. Henry was greatly 
* Theod. B?za, Hist. Eccks., vol, i., p. 79. 



328 



HENEY II. 



Chap. XV. 



exasperated by this daring opposition to his will, and determined 
to put it down with a high hand. The Protestants, undismayed, 
organized a regular system of combined action, and appealed for 
protection to the princes of Germany. An alarming agitation 
spread rapidly throughout the kingdom ; and it began to be clearly 
foreseen that the religious feud must ere long break out into a des- 
perate and bloody struggle. The great battle between the Church 
of Rome and her revolted children — between traditional authority 
and free inquiry — was about to be fought out upon the soil of 
France. Henry II., however, did not live to witness the com- 
mencement of this momentous strife, which he had had so large a 
share in provoking. It was destined to entail misery and shame 
on his posterity during three reigns, and at last to produce, as if 
in just retribution, the extinction of his royal line. 




The three Brotliers Coligny. 




LxLcutioa It tlie L i tie ot Amtiui l, 15b0 (1 lom an ancient engi i\iu^ ) 
(A. La Renaudie. B. Conspnatoi» decapitated C \iUemongi , liaMog dipped lub hands 
in the hlood of his companions. D. Seven conspirators hanged. E. Three heads placed 
as a memorial, F. Conspirators led to punishment. G. Castle of Amboise.) 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FKANCIS II. CHARLES IX. A.D. 1559-1574:. 

§ 1 . Accession of Francis II. ; Power of the Guises ; Persecution of the 
Huguenots. § 2. Conspiracy against the Guises ; its Failure ; Massacre 
of Amboise. § 3. Reaction in favor of the Huguenots ; Summoning of 
tlie States-General; Death of Francis. § 4. Accession of Charles IX. ; 
Regency of Catharine de' Medici ; Reforms of the States-General ; Strug- 
gles between the Catholics and the Huguenots. § 5. Commencement of 
tlie Civil War. § 6. Capture of "Rouen by the Catholics; Assassination 
of the Duke of Guise ; Edict of Amboise. § 7. Outbreak of the second 
Civil War; Battle of St. Denis. § 8. Battle of Jarnac ; Death of Con- 
de'; Henry of Navarre, general-in-chief of the Huguenots. § 9. Battle of 
Moncontour; Defeat of the Huguenots; their Successes; Treaty with 
them. § 10. Welcome of the Huguenots at Court. § 11. Marriage of 
Heni-y of Navarre with Marguerite of Valois ; Massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mew. § 12. Siege of Rochelle; Treaty with the Huguenots; Death of 
Charles IX. 

§ 1. Francis II., 1 559-1 5G0. — Henry II. left seven cliiklren, 
of whom tlie eldest, Francis, Avho succeeded to the throne, was 
scarcely sixteen years of age. The others were Charles, and Hen- 
ry, duke of Anjou (who both wore the crown in succession), the 
Duke of Alen<}on (afterward Duke of Anjou), and three daugh- 
ters, of whom the eldest was Queen of Spain, the second Duchess 
of Lorraine, while the youngest, the too famous Marguerite, be- 
came in the sequel Queen of Navarre. 



330 FRANCIS II. Chap. XVI. 

The new king, a youth of sickly constitution and weak intellect, 
was completely enslaved by his wife, the fascinating Mary of Scot- 
land, while she, in her turn, was altogether under the control of her 
uncles the Guises. The government of the kingdom accordingly 
now rested wholly with the Duke of Guise and his brother the 
cardinal ; Montmorency was deprived of power, and retired from 
court ; and the King of Navarre, lying under the stigma of heresy, 
and being personally unacceptable to the king, made no attempt to 
gain a share in the direction of affairs. The queen-mother, Catha- 
rine de' Medici, had hitherto been kept in the background, and had 
carefully dissembled her real chai'acter. But circumstances were 
now changed ; and with her superior powers, resolute will, talent 
for intrigue, and unscrupulous ambition, she was evidently des- 
tined to play a conspicuous part in the state. For the present she 
allied herself with the all-powerful Guises, and watched for the 
opportunity which might place her in a more direct position of 
authority. 

The government proceeded vigorously with the work of sup- 
pressing heresy by relentless measures of persecution. The Hu- 
guenots,* as they now began to be called, were every day de- 
nounced to the authorities, imprisoned, fined, or banished the realm. 
The aspect of affairs now became every day more gloomy and 
threatening. The arrogant temper and tyrannical administration 
of the Guises, besides exasperating the Calvinists, excited deep an- 
imosity among the inferior nobility, bourgeoisie, and commercial 
classes. The malcontents saw in the prevailing religious agitation 
a convenient means of organizing a formidable resistance to the 
government ; they opened communications for this purpose with 
the leaders of the Reformation ; and within a short time Calvin- 
ism assumed the form not only of religious, but of political disaf- 
fection and rebellion. From that moment the entire strength of 
the government was necessarily arrayed against it ; and as both 
parties were equally resolute and prepared for extremities, civil 
war was the inevitable consequence. 

§ 2. A wide-spx-ead conspiracy was now formed among the dis- 
affected of all classes and views, having for its object the liberation 
of the young king from the control of the Guises, and the total 
overthrow of their power. The real leader of the revolt was Lou- 
is, prince of Conde, brother of the King of Navarre ; but his con- 
nection with it was kept a profound secret ; and the enterprise was 
ostensibly conducted by a gentleman of Perigord named Godfrey 
de la Renaudie, who traversed the country in all directions, excit- 

* This word is n corruption of the German Eidgenossen, i. c, confederates. 
It was first transferred into the French language under the form Eguenots, 
which subsequently became Huguenots. 



A.D. 1559, 1500. PERSECUTION OF THE HUGUENOTS. 331 

ing the people to take arms for Conde under the sobriquet of the 
" dumb captain." A numerous meeting of tlie party was held at 
Nantes on the 1st of February, 1560, when it was agreed that an 
attempt should be made to seize the king's person, arrest and im- 
prison the princes of Lorraine, summon the States-General, and 
place the government in the hands of the Boui'bons. 

The plot was well concocted, but failed, like other schemes of 
the same kind, by the treachery of one of the confederates. The 
Guises, warned of their danger, removed the court to the castle of 
Amboise ; the royal guards strongly occupied every post in the vi- 
cinity ; and when the first detachment of the insurgents came in 
sight, they were surrounded, disarmed, and led prisoners to Am- 
boise. A second party, which had seized the castle of Noyse, was 
captured by the Duke of Nemoux'S. La Eenaudie nevertheless ad- 
vanced on the 18th of March toward Amboise, and was slain in a 
skirmish near Chateau Renault. Next day his followers made a 
final and desperate attempt to carry the town by assault ; it was 
repulsed, and the insurrection was at once at an end. Guise was 
now appointed lieutenant general of the kingdom, and proceeded 
to execute a terrible and merciless vengeance on all who were 
taken with arms in their hands. The butchery of the wretched 
victims continued during a whole month ; they were cruelly tor- 
tured, and then hung, beheaded, or drowned in the Loire ; the 
streets of Amboise ran with blood ; the river was covered with 
floating corpses. A nobleman named Villenrongis, when brought 
to the scaffold, dipped his hands in the blood of his slaughtered 
comrades, and, raising them to heaven, exclaimed, '' Lord, behold 
the blood of thy children; thou Avilt take vengeance for them!" 
Upward of 1200 persons are said to have been executed. The 
young king and his brothers, with their attendants, including even 
the ladies of the court, were daily spectators of these barbarous 
scenes. The gentle -tempered Chancellor Olivier died literally 
from horror at the revolting exhibition. 

§ 3. The atrocious cruelties perpetrated by the Guises in their 
hour of triumph produced a speedy reaction in favor of the perse- 
cuted sectai'ies. The nation regarded the massacre of Amboise 
with disgust ; and the Calvinists, instead of being intimidated and 
crushed, continued to gain ground, and loudly demanded venge- 
ance for the blood of their martyred brethren. The queen-mother 
Catharine now came forward as the advocate of milder counsels ; 
and her first act of political influence was to procure the post of 
chancellor for the famous Michel de I'Hopital, a man of known 
moderation and exemplary virtue, some of whose nearest relatives 
belonged to the LTuguenot party. The edict of Romorantin, pub- 
lished at the same time, committed the prosecution of all offenses 



332 FRANCIS 11. Chai VI. 

against religion exclusively to the bishops and clergy : a measure 
which, though in appearance unfavorable to the Protestants, had 
in reality the effect of pi-eventing the establishment in France of 
the detestable tribunal of the Inquisition. It was resolved, as a 
farther concession, to convoke the States-General, which had been 
in abeyance for no less than seventy-six years. 

The Huguenots, greatly encouraged and elated by these pro- 
ceedings, now recommenced their agitation, especially in the south- 
ern provinces ; and the Bourbon princes, yielding to the solicita- 
tions of the powerful nobles and gallant soldiers who surrounded 
them, engaged to take the lead in a fresh attempt to dispossess the 
Guises of supreme power, aud establish civil and religious inde- 
pendence by force of arms. The Guises, on their part, displayed 
at least equal activity. Being now in possession of ample proofs 
of the complicity of Conde in the late insurrection, they resolved 
to take advantage of the approaching meeting of the States to 
strike a terrible blow which should annihilate forever the opposi- 
tion to their sway. They prepared a confession of the Catholic 
faith, which was to be tendered to every deputy on taking his seat ; 
a refusal to accept this test was to be eq uivalent to condemnation 
to death. When their preparations wet-e complete, the king com- 
manded the attendance of the King of i>I^avarre and his brother at 
Orleans, where he held his court. TLe princes, although repeat- 
edly informed of the designs of their ct^emies, obeyed, and reached 
Orleans on the 31st of October. Ftancis received them coldly, 
and the queen-mother manifested much emotion. Conde was im- 
mediately arrested and placed in close confinement ; the King of 
Navarre Avas separated from his suite, and strictly watched. A 
commission was appointed to proceed to the trial of Conde for 
high treason ; his condemnation was decreed beforehand, and the 
very day fixed for his execution. But at this crisis the king fell 
dangerously ill from an abscess which had formed in his head ; 
and the Chancellor I'Hopital, who had secretly ascertained from 
the royal physicians that his recovery was hopeless, employed ev- 
ery expedient and pretext to postpone the sentence of the court, 
and thus save the prince's life. The Guises, desperate in their thirst 
of vengeance, implored the queen-mother to consent to the imme- 
diate assassination of both the Bourbon pinnces, and pledged them- 
selves in that case to support her as regent Avith the entire strength 
of the Catholic interest. Catharine, however, fortified by the wise 
and humane counsels of the chancellor, rejected this temptation ; 
she sent for the King of Navarre, and required him to renounce all 
claim to the regency of the kingdom, even though it should be of- 
fered to him by the States-General ; she promised him, on this 
condition, the second place in the government, and intimated that 



A.D. 1560, 1561. ACCESSION OF CHARLES IX. 333 

his life depended on compliance. He accepted the terms at once ; 
and within a few days afterward Fi-ancis breathed his last, on the 
5th of December, 1560. Ilis reign of scarcely eighteen months, 
the shortest in the French annals, was pregnant with results of 
incalculable moment to the future destinies of the nation. 

§ 4. Chakles IX., 1560-1574. — Francis II. died without issue, 
and the crown devolved on his next brother, a boy of ten years and 
a half old, who was immediately proclaimed king under the title of 
Charles IX. The King of Navarre, faithful to his engagement, 
advanced no pretensions to the regency ; and the queen-mother at 
once assumed, as of right, and without opposition, the exercise of 
sovereign power in the name of her son. Her object was to effect 
a fusion of parties, or rather to hold the balance evenly between 
them, and, by allowing neither to preponderate, to preserve the 
paramount authority in her own hands. In accordance with this 
principle, which Catharine had imbibed from her celebrated coun- 
tryman Machiavelli, the King of Navarre was appointed lieutenant 
general of the kingdom ; but, on the other hand, the princes of 
Lorraine were not deprived of their places in the council, and the 
Duke of Guise retained his post of master of the royal household. 
The Prince of Conde, who had so narrowly escaped the scaffold, 
was released from confinement, and became a member of the coun- 
cil. The Constable Montmorency resumed the command of the 
army. The chief friend of the queen regent, and her most influ- 
ential adviser, was the excellent Chancellor de I'Hopital. 

Tlie session of the States-General, which was opened at Orleans 
on the IStli of December, 1560, and closed on the 31st of Janu- 
ary, 1561, passed off peaceably, and was followed by several im- 
portant edicts. The concordat was revoked, and freedom of ec- 
clesiastical election re-established ; sound reforms Avere introduced 
in the administration of justice; and, lastly, the Parliament was 
enjoined to forbear all farther prosecutions in matters of religion, 
and all who had been imprisoned or sentenced to banishment for 
offenses of this nature were forthwith liberated and recalled. 

But these and other well-intentioned efforts of the government 
were soon frustrated by the reckless violence of party spirit, selfish 
ambition, and fanatical enthusiasm. The Catholic section of the 
council indignantly resented every concession made to their op- 
ponents ; while the Huguenots, on their part, growing insolent at 
the prospect of so decided a change in their favor, began to com- 
mit outrages against the established worship, profaned the altars, 
destroyed the images, and took forcible possession of the churches 
wherever they found themselves in the majority. The Catholic 
leaders,bitterly complaining of the queen's "apostasy,*' soon leagued 
together afresh for the defense of their faith ; and Montmorency, 



334 CHARLES IX. CiiAi', XVI. 

separating from his nephews Coligny and Dandelot, allied himself 
with the^Duke of Guise and the Marshal St. Andre'. Fearful dis- 
turbances broke out in ditierent parts of the country, and numbers 
of helpless victims were sacrificed to the furious fanaticism both 
of Catholics and Protestants. The queen, supported strongly by 
Conde, the Chatillons, and the chancellor, at length resolved, as a 
last I'esource against revolution, to tiy the expedient of granting 
complete tolerance, under certain safeguards, to the professors of 
the new religion ; and an edict was accordingly published at St. 
Germains in January, 15-62, by which permission was given to the 
Huguenots throughout the kingdom to hold meetings for religious 
worship outside the walls of towns, and all penalties enacted against 
them were abolished. They were required, on the other hand, to 
restore to the dominant communion all churches of which they had 
wrongfully taken possession ; to abstain from preaching against 
the Catholic faith ; and to leave the clergy in peaceable enjoy- 
ment of their tithes and other endowments. This was the first 
official recognition of the principle of religious toleration in France. 
The Parliament for a long time strenuously resisted the registra- 
tion of the decree, and only yielded at last from dread of popular 
commotion, which had already commenced. 

§ 5. Matters, however, had now reached such a point that even 
this important step toward liberty of conscience and equality of 
religious rights failed to do more than postpone for a short time the 
actual outbreak of hostilities. The Guises had quitted the court 
and I'etired into Lorraine, where, foreseeing the speedy approach 
of civil war, they were secretly collecting troops, and endeavoring 
to conciliate the Lutheran princes of Germany, so as to deprive the 
adverse party of their powerful support. During their absence 
Montmorency and St. Andi-e succeeded in inducing the King of 
Navarre to abjure the Protestant doctrines, and reconcile himself 
to the Church of Rome. This feeble-minded prince was won over, 
it is said, by a promise from Philip of Spain to restore his domin- 
ions in Navarre, with the addition of the island of Sardinia. ■ This 
occurrence, together with the violent irritation excited among the 
Catholics by the edict of January, determined the Duke of Guise 
to return to the capital, where he was impatiently expected by the 
Constable. Leaving his chateau of Joinville with a retinue of 200 
well-armed gentlemen, the duke halted, on the Ist of March, 1562, 
at the little town of Vassy in Champagne, where, the day being 
Sunday, the Protestants were assembled for divine service. The 
duke's attendants, by his orders, interrupted and tried to stop the 
heretical worship; the sectaries resisted, and a fierce brawl ensued. 
The duke, followed by his officers, hurried to the spot, and was as- 
sailed by a shower of stones, one of which struck him on the cheek. 
His enraged soldiers now fired upon the unarmed multitude; the 



A.D. 15G2. COMMENCEMENT OF CIVIL AVAR. 335 

carnage was fearful ; 60 persons were slain outright, and upward 
of 200 more grievously wounded. Such was the " massacre of 
Vassy," which, whether premeditated or accidental, was the first 
act of the civil and religious wars of France. 

It was an object of primaiy importance to both parties, at this 
moment, to gain possession of the persons of the king and the queen 
regent. The Prince of Conde made a movement for this purpose, 
. but was anticipated by the Catholic leaders, who transported the 
royal family in triumph from Fontainebleau to the Louvre on the 
6th of April. The Huguenots now rushed to arms on all sides; 
and, as the capital was no longer tenable, Conde', accompanied by 
Coligny and Dandelot, at the head of 5000 men, marched to Or- 
leans, and made himself master of that city. Here a formal "act 
of association" was drawn up, and signed by all the chiefs of the 
party, among whom were the representatives of the most ancient 
and illustrious families of France. They swore obedience to 
Conde as the head of the Protestant league, and declared them- 
selves in arms "for the defense of the king's honor and liberty, 
the maintenance of the pure worship of God, and the due observ- 
ance of the edicts." 

Both parties made immediate application to their natural sup- 
porters in foreign countries. Philip of Spain dispatched 6000 
Spanish veterans, together with a large subsidy, to re-enforce the 
army of the Catholics ; Elizabeth of England, on the demand of 
Conde, furnished an equal number of troops under the Earl of 
Warwick and Sir Edward Poynings, who garrisoned the towns 
of Havre, Rouen, and Dieppe. 

§ 6. The principal theati-e of the eai'lier part of the war was the 
rich and populous province of Normandy. In October, 1562, the 
King of Navarre and the Duke of Guise, with 18,000 men, laid 
!-iege to Rouen, which was commanded by the Count of Montgom- 
ery, the same who had innocently caused the death of Henry II. 
Rouen made a gallant and memorable defense. Three assaults 
were given in succession, in one of which the King of Navarre 
was mortally wounded by a musket-shot in the arm. The third 
attempt succeeded ; the city was taken by storm on the 26th of 
October, and sacked and pillaged during eight days with implaca. 
ble fury. Montgomery made good his retreat with most of his 
garrison ; but the loss of Rouen entailed that of the greater part 
of Normandy. The King of Navarre expired of his wound shortly 
afterward. It is said that, capricious and inconstant to the last, 
he renounced the Romish faith on his death-bed, and died in the 
Calvinistic communion. His widow, Jeanne d'Albret, had re- 
mained in Beam, where she carefully trained up her son, the fu- 
ture Henry IV., together Vv'ith his sister Catharine, in the Prot- 
estant religion. 



336 CHARLES IX. Chap. XVI. 

Conde and Coligny, hoping to avenge the catastrophe of Kouen, 
now made a bold movement from Orleans toward Paris. They 
received a severe check at Corbeil, and, having made a useless 
demonstration before the capital, retreated rapidly in the direction 
of Normandy. On the 19th of December the Huguenot leaders 
found themselves confronted by the royal army near the tOAvn of 
Dreux. Here was fought the first pitched battle of the war ; it 
terminated, after an arduous struggle, during which fortune seem- 
ed to change sides several times, in a hard-won victory for the 
Catholics. The loss on either side was about equal ; 8000 corpses 
strewed the plain ; Montmorency remained prisoner in the hands 
of the Protestants ; Conde was a captive to the Royalists ; the 
Marshal St. Andre was among the slain. 

The Duke of Guise now became, by the death of the King of 
Navarre and St. Andre, and the captivity of the Constable, the 
sole and undisputed head of the Catholic party, and was immedi- 
ately appointed commander-in-chief of the royal armies. Early in 
February, 1563, he led his forces to the siege of Orleans. That 
city was vigorously defended by Dandelot ; but the assailants gain- 
ed ground rapidly, and it was evident that resistance could not be 
long protracted. On the evening of the day before that fixed for 
the general assault, as the Duke of Guise was returning from his 
outposts, accompanied only by two gentlemen, he Avas waylaid by a 
fanatical Huguenot named Poltrot de Blere, who mortally wound- 
ed him with a pistol loaded with poisoned balls. The duke sur- 
vived six days, and expired on the 24th of February, 1563, in his 
forty^fifth year, having with his dying breath recommended the 
queen regent to make peace Avith her revolted subjects. The 
assassin Poltrot, interrogated before the council, is said to have 
charged Coligny with having instigated, or at least approved, his 
crime. The admiral, though without doubt innocent, defended 
himself in terms which were considered ambiguous; and the Cath- 
olics, especially the family of Guise, persisted in asserting and be- 
lieving the truth of the accusation. 

The death of Guise facilitated the conclusion of a pacific ar- 
rangement, which Catharine and the chancellor saw to be urgently 
necessary for the preservation of the royal authority, so seriously 
menaced throughout the kingdom. The terms were soon agreed 
upon, notwithstanding much opposition from Coligny and his two 
brothers; and by the edict of Amboise, published March 19, 1563, 
the Huguenots obtained permission freely to celebrate their wor- 
ship in all the houses of the nobility and gentry, and throughout 
their domains ; the same license was granted in one town in every 
bailliage. It was a hollow and superficial peace, evidently not 
destined to be of long duration. 

§7. The younji king, meanwhile, liaving entered on his four- 



AD. 15G2-1567. SECOND CIVIL WAR. 337 

teenth year, was declared to have attained his majority, and as- 
sumed, at least in name, the reins of government. In 1564 Cath- 
arine and her son, attended by a brilliant court, made a progress 
through the greater part of the kingdom, which occupied the whole 
year. At Bayonne, Catharine received, according to arrangement, 
a visit from her daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Philip of Spain. 
The young queen was attended by the Duke of Alva, the confiden- 
tial and congenial minister of the gloomy and bigoted Philip ; and 
between this personage and the queen-mother there ensued a se- 
ries of mysterious nocturnal conferences, which have become cele- 
brated from the direct bearing they are supposed to have had upon 
the subsequent train of events. That the chief Subject discussed 
in these interviews was that of the extermination of lieresy, both 
in France and in the Netherlands, there can not be the slightest 
doubt ; and it is also certain that Alva used his best endeavors to 
persuade Catharine to abandon her temporizing hesitating policy, 
and imitate his master Philip in the decisive and ruthless meas- 
ures he was about to adopt in the Low Countries ; but the con- 
temporary documents do not warrant the belief that the terrible 
crime afterward perpetrated was propounded by either party in 
the interviews at Bayonne, much less that it was definitively ar- 
ranged.* Vague rumors, however, circulated among the Protest- 
ants that some mischief was in agitation : they took the alarm, and 
from this moment began to prepare for a renewed appeal to arras. 
The accounts which arrived in 1567 of the fierce persecution 
commenced by the Duke of Alva against their brethren in the 
Netherlands greatly augmented the excitement and exasperation 
of the French Reformers. They believed that their own fate was 
already determined in the councils of the court ; and after several 
seci'et meetings of their chief partisans, it was resolved, as the best- 
means of defeating tlieir enemies' scheme, to make a second and 
bolder attempt to seize the persons of the king and the royal fam- 
ily, with a view to a complete change of govei-nment. This at- 
tempt, however, failed ; and the Huguenots, who had thus com- 
menced a second civil war, now moved upon Paris, and encamped 
with about 4000 men at St. Denis. The army of the Catholics, 
commanded by the Constable, issued from Paris on the 10th of 
November, and gave them battle in the plain of St. Denis. The 
combat lasted scarcely an hour, and the victory remained undecid- 
ed ; but the Catholics sustained a severe loss in the death of the 
veteran Constable Montmorency, who, after defending himself des- 
perately in the midst of an overwhelming charge, fell mortally 
wounded by a pistol-shot fired by a Scottish officer named Robert 

* See H. Martin, vol. ix., 192 ; Prescott, Hist, of Philij) II., vol. i., p. 459, 
note ; Michclet, Gverres dc Religion. 

P 



338 CHARLES IX. ■ CiiAi>. XVI. 

Stuart. He Avas in the seven ty-fifth year of his age, and had held 
the post of Constable under four successive reigns. No successor 
was appointed to this high office ; but Catharine named her favor- 
ite son, the Duke of Anjou, lieutenant general of the royal armies, 
and thus confirmed the chief authority in her own hands. 

§ 8. In the following year a hollow ti-eaty v/as patched up ; but 
in 1569 the war was renewed with more fury than ever. On the 
13th of March, Coligny, with the rear guard only of his army, was 
surprised by the Duke of Anjou near Jaknac, on the Charente. 
Conde', summoned to the rescue, galloped to the scene of action 
with 300 cavalry, but found the admiral's troops already overpow- 
ered and in disorder. The gallant prince, though he had been 
wounded in the arm the evening before, instantly headed an im- 
petuous charge, and at the moment of engaging received a kick 
from a vicious horse which fractured one of his legs. "Nobles 
of France !" he exclaimed, "behold in what a condition Louis of 
Bourbon goes to battle for Christ and his country !" His horse 
was soon killed under him, and the prince fell helpless in the 
midst of the enemy. A despei'ate conflict took place around his 
body ; but his defenders were borne down by numbers, and slain 
almost to a man. Conde at length surrendered his sword. At 
this moment one of the captains of the Duke of Anjou's Swiss 
guard came up, and treacherously shot the prince in the back with 
his pistol. The battle was lost for the Huguenots ; but Coligny, 
rallying the remainder of the army, retreated in good order. 

The news of- the death of the heroic Conde was received with 
ungenerous and indecent rejoicings by the Catholics. Te Deum 
was sung on the occasion in all the churches of France, and the 
example was imitated at Kome, Madrid, and Brussels. The Hu- 
guenots were at first greatly discouraged by their misfortune ; but 
their confidence was soon rekindled by the spirited Jeanne of Na- 
varre, who repaired to the army with her son Henry and the youth- 
ful Prince of Conde, eldest son of the fallen hero, and presented 
the two princes to the soldiers as the future champions of the 
cause of liberty. The troops answered with enthusiasm ; and 
Henry of Navarre was instantly proclaimed their general-in-chief 
under the experienced guidance of the. veteran Coligny. 

§ 9* In the autumn of the same year (3d of October) another 
battle was fought not far from Moncontour, on the small river 
Dive. The Huguenots were inferior in number, and were drawn 
up in a bad position ; they nevertheless maintained the contest 
with undaunted valor, but in the end suffered a total overthrow, 
with the loss of at least 6000 men slain, together with their artil- 
lery, standards, and baggage. This brilliant victory Avas regarded 
by the Catholics as a certain augury of the final ruin of the Prot- 
estant fjinsp. ;)nd excited their liveliest <lonionstration>; of jov. 



A.D. 15G8-1570. TREATY WITH THE HUGUENOTS. 339 

But the advantage was ill improved, and by no means produced 
the decisive results that were expected. The campaign of the fol- 
lowing year (1570) was successful for the Huguenots. Discon- 
certed and alarmed at this unexpected prolongation of the contest, 
Catharine now once more expressed herself willing to negotiate, 
and made propositions far more favorable than at any former time 
during the war. By the treaty signed at St. Germains on the 8tli 
of August, 1570, the Reformers obtained the free exercise of their 
religion throughout the kingdom, with the single exception of the 
capital ; they were admitted on equal terms with Catholics to all 
professions and public employments ; restitution was granted of all 
forfeited offices and confiscated property, and a general amnesty 
was proclaimed for the past ; and lastly, as a guarantee for the due 
fulfillment of these articles, four specified towns — namely. La Eo- 
chelle, Cognac, Montauban, and La Charite — were placed in the 
hands of the Huguenot leaders, to be gai'risoned by their troops 
for the space of two years. 

These terms were so strangely advantageous to the party whiclr 
had been so often vanquished in the field, that they called forth 
the strong remonstrances of the Pope and Philip II., and were 
generally condemned as derogatory to the crown and ignominious 
to the Catholic Church. 

There is no sufficient ground, however, for supposing, with some 
historians, that Catharine de' Medici acted on this occasion with 
deliberate hypocrisy and perfidy. It seems more probable that at 
this moment she had no distinct purpose except that of obtaining 
a respite from the anxieties and miseries of war, and re-establish- 
ing the authority of the crown, so seriously endangered and im- 
paired by the long continuance of civil strife. Extraordinary ef- 
forts were now made by the court to mitigate the bitterness and 
animosity of parties, and to conciliate the confidence of the Hu- 
guenots, but for some time entirely in vain. Coligny, accompa- 
nied by the Queen of Navarre and the two young princes, retired 
to La Rochelle, the great stronghold of Calvinism, which was Avell 
garrisoned and vigilantly guarded. The king, either from natural 
caprice or from resentful opposition to the yoke of his mother and 
the Guises, seemed to seize every opportunity of sliowing that he 
had altogether changed his line of policy. Pie espoused, in Au- 
gust, 1570, the Archduchess Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor 
Maximilian II., a prince known to be well inclined toward the 
Protestants. He supported the pretensions of his brother the Duke 
of Anjou, who aspired to the hand of the Protestant Elizabeth of 
England. He dispatched embassies to establish amicable relations 
with the Protestant courts of Germany. He even evinced a dis- 
position to interfere in behalf of the persecuted defenders of the 
Reformation in the Netherlands. Meanwhile the excesses of the 



340 CHARLES IX. Chap. XVI. 

Catholics in France were restrained and punished with impartial 
severity ; the treaty of St. Gerraains was scrupulously executed ; 
and in the spring of 1571 a general synod of the Reformed Church 
was held, by the king's express permission, at La Kochelle, under 
the presidency of Theodore Beza. 

A still more important step in the same direction was taken in 
July, 1571, when Biron, the future mai'shal, arrived at La Rochellc 
with proposals from thQ king for a matrimonial alliance between 
his sister the Princess Marguerite and the young Frince Henry 
of Navarre. Such an overture could not but be gratifying to 
Jeanne d'Albret, although her strict Protestantism was somewhat 
scandalized by the idea of her son's union with a member of the 
idolatrous Church of Rome. She returned a gracious answer, and 
the negotiations for the marriage Avere immediately put in train. 

§ 10. The Admiral Coligny, at length overcoming his deep-seat- 
ed feelings of mistrust, repaired to Blois in September, on the ur- 
gent invitation of the king, and was received by Charles and his 
mother with the utmost distinction, and pi'ofuse assurances of ven- 
eration and affection. "My father,"' said the monarch, caressingly, 
in tones afterward attributed to consummate dissimulation, "we 
hold you now, and you shall never escape us again." He was 
loaded with honors and rewards ; and the king appeared to resign 
himself to his influence and direction, especially with regard to 
the projected expedition to the Netherlands, Avhich the admiral 
warmly advocated, from motives both religious and patriotic. 

A few months later the Queen of Navarre, in spite of her mis- 
givings and prejudices, was induced to follow Coligny's example 
and proceed to court, where she experienced an equally cordial wel- 
come ; and was assured by the king that, whether with or without 
the dispensation which had been demanded from the Pope, he was 
resolved to conclude his sister's marriage with the Prince of Btarn. 
At Paris, meanwhile, the extraordinary favtjr and ascendency 
thus acquired by the Huguenots had excited general discontent 
and alarm, and the popular agitation increased daily. The pul- 
pits resounded with angiy denunciations against the union of a 
daughter of France with a declared enemy of Holy Church ; the 
military preparations in support of the rebels in Flanders were 
highly unpopular ; and the Guises were indefatigable in inflaming 
the passions of their faction against their rivals, who now, after 
twelve years of destructive warfare, confronted them at every turn 
in the thoroughfares of the capital. / 

The crisis approached. The sudden death of the Queen of Na- 
varre, on the 9th of July, 1572, first awakened the suspicions of 
the Huguenots, who imagined, probably without reason, that she 
had fallen a victim to the treachery and vengeance of the queen- 



A.D. 1570-1572. HUGUENOTS WELCOMED AT COURT. g41 

mother. This event was taken by many as a warning, and they 
immediately escaped from Paris ; but Coligny still maintained his 
confidence, and, though urgently entreated by his friends to pro- 
vide for his safety before it was too late, refused to quit the capi- 
tal. Under his direction the expedition to the Netherlands took 
place early in the summer, and the French made themselves mas- 
ters of Valenciennes, Mons, and other towns ; but a reverse occur- 
ring soon afterward, the council became divided as to the course 
to be pursued ; Coligny and his adherents demanded an immediate 
declaration of war with Spain ; the queen-mother ranged herself 
on the opposite side ; Charles IX. showed an evident leaning to- 
ward the counsels of the admiral. 

It was now that Catharine, finding herself in direct collision with 
the admiral, whose paramount credit with the king threatened her 
with a total loss of power, finally resolved on his destruction. No 
doubt the idea of this crime had often been suggested to her mind 
before ; it had now become a necessity ; and she executed it with a 
cool determination, combined with Machiavelian subtlety, which 
will transmit her name to posterity branded with peculiar and in- 
delible infamy. Her chief confidants were her son the Duke of 
Anjou (afterward Henry III.), the Duke of Guise, the Marshal de 
Tavannes, the Count de Eetz, and the Duke of Nevers. It was 
arranged that the admiral should be assassinated by some known 
retainer of the Guises ; this would almost certainly produce an in- 
surrection of the Huguenots to avenge the death of their leader ; 
the populace of Paris was then to be instigated to rise in defense 
of the Guises ; and the weaker party was to be crushed and ex- 
terminated by a wholesale massacre. Such was the scheme of 
these diabolical conspirators. 

§ 11. The marriage of Henry of Navarre with Marguerite of Va- 
lois was celebrated on the 18th of August by the Cardinal of Bour- 
bon, on a platform erected in front of the great entrance to Notre 
Dame. This event excited the popular indignation and commotion 
to the highest pitch ; and strange and fearful rumors of an impend- 
ing catastrophe gained ground hourly in the capital. Three days 
after the nuptials, as the Admiral Coligny was returning home from 
the Louvre on foot, he was fired at from behind a window by an 
agent of the Duke of Guise, named Maurevert, and severely wound- 
ed in the hand and the left arm. He calmly pointed out to his 
attendants the house from which the shot had issued, and sent to 
inform the king of the occurrence. Charles was playing at tennis 
with the Duke of Guise. " Am I never to be left in peace ?" he 
exclaimed passionately on hearing the news, and then retired in 
extreme agitation. He proceeded without delay to visit his Avound- 
ed friend, consoled him with warm expressions of sympathy and 



342 CHARLES IX. Chap. XVT. 

affection, and swore that he would exact a signal and terrible 
vengeance for the outrage. In a private conversation which fol- 
lowed, Coligny complained bitterly of the misgovernment and per- 
nicious influence of the queen-mother, implored the king to deprive 
her of power, and offered him the services of the whole Huguenot 
party to effect this object. Catharine and her accomplices Avere 
now struck with consternation : their first blow had failed (for the 
admiral's wounds were not dangerous), and they were menaced 
with exposure and ruin. After an agitated consultation, they pro- 
ceeded in a body to the king, and, conjuring up before him dreadful 
visions of renewed civil war, revolution, foreign aggression, and per- 
sonal violence, urged him to consent, as a measure of necessary self- 
preservation, to the death of the admiral and other principal mem- 
bers of the Huguenot faction. The wretched monarch yielded, 
though not without a long and painful struggle. Starting up sud- 
denly in one of those transports of delirious fury to which he was 
subject, he ordered, with fearful execrations, that, since it was nec- 
essary to shed the blood of the admiral, not a single Huguenot 
should be left alive in his dominions to reproach him with the mur- 
derous deed. 

On the feast of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572, the great bell 
of St. Germain I'Auxerrois rung out at the unwonted hour of two 
in the morning. This was the appointed signal: it was instantly 
repeated from all the steeples of the capital. Lights were sudden- 
ly shown in every window ; the assassins, armed to the teeth, and 
distinguished by white crosses in their hats, swarmed forth from 
their lurking-places in every quarter of Paris, and the work of 
death began. The first victim was the illustrious Coligny. Henry 
of Guise proceeded in person to his house, and remained in the 
court below, while one of his myrmidons, a German named Besme, 
went up, burst open the door of the old man's chamber, and bru- 
tally plunged his sword into his heart. Guise demanded to be 
satisfied with his own eyes of the completion of his vengeance ; and 
the bleeding corpse of the admiral was flung down from the win- 
dow at the feet of his heartless and triumphant enemy. To this 
hideous commencement succeeded an indiscriminate slaughter 
through the whole extent of the city, Avhich was continued with- 
out intermission until nightfall. "Bleed, bleed!"' cried the fero- 
cious Tavannes ; " the doctors say that bleeding does as much good 
in August as in May !" Neither age, sex, nor rank was spared. 
All the houses inhabited by Huguenots had been marked before- 
liand ; and the unhappy inmates, taken completely by surprise, were 
(ither butchered helplessly in their beds, or overpowered and dis- 
] latched after a brief and hopeless resistance. The queen and her 
attendants were spectators of the appalling scene from the windows 



A.D. 1572. 



MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 



343 



of the Louvre ; and it is said that Charles himself, in his blood- 
tliirsty frenzy, repeatedly fired his arquebus upon the miserable 
fugitives as they attempted to escape along the quays of the Seine. 

Toward evening the king gave orders to put a stop to the mas- 
sacre ; but it was found that the demons w^hom he had unchained 
were not to be so easily appeased, and the carnage continued with 
scarcely diminished fury during several days. Similar enormities 
were committed in all the more important provincial towns — at 
Orleans, Troyes, Bourges, Lyons, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen. The 
total number of the victims was never correctly ascertained, Da- 
vila estimates it at 10,000 slain in Paris alone ; 30,000, according 
to De Thou, were immolated in different parts of the kingdom. 

While the massacre was at its height, the king summoned Henry 
of Navarre and the Prince of Conde into his cabinet, and sternly 
commanded them to make their choice between death and the 
mass. The two princes replied at first with admirable firmness, 
and refused to renounce their faith ; but a few Aveeks afterward, 
overcome either by menaces, persuasions, or controversial argu- 
ment, they changed their tone, and consented to at least an out- 
ward semblance of conformity to the Komish Church. 

§ 12. On the 26th of August, while the streets of Paris were 
still deluged with blood, Charles held a bed of justice in the Par- 
liament, and had the audacity to avow and justify the recent hor- 
rible events as having taken place by his orders, for the suppres- 
sion and punishment of a conspiracy by the Huguenots to murder 
liimself and the royal family, and overturn the government. No 
other means were left him, he said, for the preservation of the 
safety of the state. The Parliament was base enough to congrat- 
ulate the king on his wisdom, energy, and zeal for the public wel- 
fare ; they ordered the memory of Coligny and his accomplices to 
be branded with perpetual infamy by a judicial process ; condemn- 
ed to death two of the rebel leaders who had escaped the massacre ; 




Medal of Tope Gregory XIII. commemorating the Mas.-sacre of St. Bartholomev,-. 

Obv. : Gkegorivs . xiii . pont . ma.x . an . i : bust to left. Hev. : VG0>-OTTor.vM eteaqes : 
15T2 : an angel slaying tlie Huguenots. 



^44: CHARLES IX. CiiAi-. XVI. 

and instituted a solemn annual procession at Paris in commemora- 
tion of" the glorious day of St. Bartholomew. At Rome the news 
of this great blow for the extermination of heresy was hailed with 
extravagant manifestations of joy; the Pope and cardinals went 
in state to return thanks to Heaven for this signal mercy, and 
medals were struck in its honor. Philip II. extolled it as one of 
the most memorable triumphs of Christianity, compared it to the 
splendid victory of Lepanto, and boasted that the total ruin of 
Protestantism was now finally assured. 

Nevertheless, this great wickedness, like all state crimes, was 
quite ineffectual for the purpose toward which it was directed. 
The Huguenots had lost their ablest leaders ; they were stunned, 
confounded, scattered, weakened, but they were by no means whol- 
ly crushed. As soon as they recovered from their consternation 
they once more rushed to arms. La Rochelle, steadily faithful to 
the Reformed cause, broke out into open revolt ; and the court, 
after vain efforts of accommodation, was compelled to besiege the 
place with a powerful army, under the Duke of Anjou, in March, 
1573. Every attempt of the assailants was repelled and defeated 
by the courage of the citizens and the fanatical zeal of the Cal- 
vinist preachers, numbers of whom had taken refuge in the town ; 
re-enforcements arrived by sea from England ; the Duke of Anjou, 
who during the siege received suddenly the announcement of his 
elevation to the throne of Poland, became impatient to terminate 
the struggle ; and in July negotiations were opened with the brave 
defenders of La Rochelle, which resulted in a treaty of peace. The 
Reformed worship was licensed in the towns of La Rochelle, Ni?mep, 
and Montauban, liberty of conscience was acknowledged, and the 
Protestants recovered their sequestered estates, offices, and honors. 

Thus the persecuted party once more raised their heads, and 
within a year from the date of the great massacre were in a posi- 
tion to address the king in bolder and more importunate language 
than at any former period of the contest. A third party now arose 
in the state, formed by a coalition of the Huguenots with the more 
moderate Catholics, the principal of whom were the three sons of 
the late Constable Montmorency, and the gallant La Noue. The 
Duke of Alen(jon, youngest brother of Charles IX., was placed at 
the head of this new confederacy, which was also joined by Henry 
of Navarre, the Prince of Conde, and Prince Louis of Nassau. 
The intention was to secure the throne to Alengon in the event of 
the death of Charles, to remove the queen-mother from power, and 
to establish complete freedom and equality in matters of religion ; 
but the scheme was ruined by the pusillanimous Aveakness of Alcn- 
9on himself, who revealed the whole to his enraged mother. Catli- 
aiine acted on the occasion with her usual courage, vigor, and 



A.D. 1572-1574. RFJIORSE AND DEATH OF CHARLES. 



345 



presence of mind. Tlie Duke of Alen^on and the King of Nivvane 
were arrested and confined at Vincennes, and the Marshal Mont- 
morency was sent to the Bastile. The Prince of Condc succeeded 
in making his escape to Strasburg. It is believed that Charles 
was urged by his mother to proceed to extremities against Henry 
of Navarre, if not against Alengon also ; but the unhappy mon- 
arch, whose health was now rapidly declining, refused to take the 
life of his brother-in-law. The king had been laboring for some 
time under a dangerous aflPection of the lungs ; this was agf^ra- 
\ ated by an excessive nervous agitation, which had never left him 
since the fatal day of St. Bartholomew ; under this complication 
of maladies his strength wasted daily, and it was evident that his 
end was approaching. On his death-bed he suffered fearfully from 
the agonies of remorse in looking back on the atrocities which had 
disgraced his reign, and which, if not their original author, he had 
at least culpably sanctioned. His couch was frequently bathed in 
blood, a natural consequence of his disease ; and this was inter- 
preted by many into a sort of judicial retribution on his crimes. 
Having intrusted the regency to his mother, in the absence of his 
next brother the King of Poland, Charles IX. expired on the 30th 
of May, 1574. He had scarcely completed the twenty-fourth year 
of his age. 




/ if 



C:'.thr.r'.ne ilc' Medici. 

P 2 




Hemy III. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
HENRY III. A.D. 1574-1589. 
§ 1. Character of Heuvy III. § 2. Confederacy of the Huguenots; joined 
by the Duke of Alenc^on and Henry of Navarre ; Treaty made with the 
Huguenots. § 3. Formation of the " Holy League," directed by the Duke 
of Guise. § i. Vices of the King. § 5. Expedition of the Duke of An- 
jou to the Netherlands; his Death. § G. Alliance between the Duke of 
Guise and Philip of Spain. § 7. War against the League; Treaty of Ne- 
mours; the "Seize." § 8. Battle of Coutras; Rebellious Intrigues of th-^ 
Leaguers; Guise enters Paris. § 9. Day of the Barricades; Flight of the 
King. § 10. Guise master of Paris; Edict of Union ; the States of Blois. 
§ 11. Assassination of the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine ; 



A.D. 1574. CHARACTER OF HENRY III. 347 

Death of Catharine de' Medici. § 12. Insurrection against the King ; the 
Duke of Mayence Head of the League. § 13. Reconciliation of the King 
witii Henry of Navarre ; they besiege Paris. § 14. Assassination of Hen- 
ry III. ; Extinction of tlie House of Valois. 

§ 1. The new king, Henry III. (formerly Duke of Anjou), was 
in Poland at the time of his brother's death, and some months 
elapsed before he was able to take possession of his throne. Such 
was his feverish impatience to return to France, that, Avithout 
making any provision for the government of Poland, he quitted 
the palace at Cracow secretly at midnight ; and although pursued 
to the frontier by his indignant subjects, made his escape into Mo- 
ravia, and thence continued his journey into Italy. Having pass- 
ed some time in festivities and dissipation at Venice, Henry pro- 
ceeded to Turin, where he was induced by the Duke of Savoy to 
surrender Pignerol and other fortresses in Piedmont, the only rel- 
ics which France had preserved of the conquests of Francis I. 
He at length entered his own dominions on the 5th of September, 
and was conducted by the queen-regent to Lyons, attended by the 
King of Navarre and the Duke of Alen9on, who were now restored, 
to liberty. 

The king at once announced his determination to make no con- 
cessions to the Iluguenots. They were ordered either to conform 
to the dominant religion, and live as peaceable and loyal subjects, 
or to leave the kingdom. But this peremptory notification was 
not followed up by any vigorous acts of coercion ; and the Prot- 
estants, instead of submitting, began with redoubled ai*dor to or- 
ganize a fresh insurrection. Nothing, indeed, could be better cal- 
culated to serve the cause of disaffection and rebellion than the 
accession to power of a sovereign like Henry. He quickly lost 
whatever reputation he had acquired by the victories of Jarnac 
and Moncontour, and became an object of universal odium, disgust, 
and contempt. His character was frivolous, effeminate, and shame- 
lessly depraved. Totally without principle, he was at the same 
time slavishly superstitious, and even rigid in all the externals of 
religion. Though by no means destitute of talent, he was soon 
found utterly incapable of conducting the affairs of state; he neg- 
lected all serious business, and secluded himself for days together 
in the company of a band of debauched parasites, whose infamous 
orgies were such as to shock society even in that age of general 
laxity and corruption. 

The king married, immediately after his coronation, Lonise de 
Vaudemont, daughter of the count of that name, who represented 
a younger brancli of the house of Lorraine. This was an impru- 
dent match, and only served to augment the power of the GuisoF. 
The Catholics now found a leader in tlie celebrated Henry, diihc 



348 HENKY III. Chap. XVII. 

of Guise, a young man who, though on the whole inferior to his 
father, possessed the advantages of brilliant courage, considerable 
])olitical talent, and general popularity. Such Avas the course of 
events in tliis miserable reign, that Guise found himself ere long 
in the strange and hazardous position of being at the same time 
tlie chief antagonist of the turbulent Huguenots, and the declared 
opponent and rival of the throne itself. 

§ 2. In February, 1575, a league was signed between the Hugue- 
nots, under the leadership of the Prince of Conde, and the party 
of the Politiques, as they were called, or liberal Catholics, repre- 
sented hy the Marshal de Damville, one of the three brothers 
Montmorency. The factious Duke of Alencon had soon recom- 
menced his intrigues ; and finding himself suspected by his brother, 
who is even said to have attempted to remove him by violence, he 
escaped from court and joined the insurgents in the south, who 
immediately proclaimed him the supreme head of their confedera- 
cy. In the following year, Henry of Navarre, who, though nom- 
inally at liberty, had remained under the jealous surveillance of 
Catharine ever since the day of St. Bartholomew, suddenly de- 
termined to shake off his voluptuous indolence and declare for the 
cause of the confederates. He escaped under pretext of a hunting- 
party, crossed the Loire at Saumur with a band of faithful adher- 
ents, and threw himself actively into the struggle. "They have 
put my mother to death at Paris," he exclaimed ; " they have slain 
the admiral there, and all my best friends; I will never return 
thither unless I am dragged by force." It is curious to compare 
this speech with the remarkable course of subsequent events. 
When Henry next entei-ed the capital it was as King of Fi-ance. 

The strength of the confederacy was now so great as completely 
to intimidate both the king and Catharine, who saw that they had 
no resource but in negotiation. In order to obtain peace, they 
were compelled to make the most humiliating concessions and sac- 
rifices. The Duke of Alencon required the cession of Anjou, Tou- 
raine, and Berri, in perpetual appanage for himself and his heirs ; 
the government of Guienne for Henry of Navarre, that of Picardy 
for the Prince of Conde. The full and public exercise of the Be- 
formed religion was authorized thi-oughout the kingdom ; the Par- 
liaments Avere to consist of an equal number of Protestant and 
Catholic judges ; all sentences passed against the Huguenots Avere 
annulled, and the insurgents Avere pronounced to have acted for 
the good' of the king and kingdom; eight toAvns were placed in 
their hands for an unlimited period ; and the States-General were 
to be convoked Avithin six months. Such AA^ere the conditions of 
the " Peace of Monsieur," as it Avas termed, Avhich AA'as signed on 
the Gth of May, 1576 — less than four years after that frightful 



A. D. 1574-1576. THE LEAGUE. ' .319 

massacre by which it Avas hoped that the Huguenot faction avouIcI 
be finally extirpated from France. 

§ 3. This treaty, Avliich conceded all the demands of the heretics 
to their fullest extent, was regarded by the zealous Catholics as a 
2;ross insult to their religion, and a disgrace to their countiy. The 
king, they saw, had betrayed and abandoned their cause, and was 
utterly unworthy of their confidence ; it was therefore necessary 
to devise new means of self-defense ; and the situation of affairs 
naturally suggested the idea of a genei-al league among the Catho- 
lics, of the same character as that by means of which the Protest- 
ants had achieved such unexpected and extraordinary success. 
The machinery for such a movement already existed in the associ- 
ations or confreries which had been formed, through the agency of 
the clei'gy and the Jesuits, in most of the towns and rural districts, 
for the protection and advancement of Catholic interests ; and it 
was not difficult for the Duke of Guise, taking advantage of the 
daily increasing popular ferment, to combine these brotherhoods 
into one vast confederacy under his own direction, and thus re- 
commence the contest with overpowering numbers and every pros- 
pect of success. A document dispatched into the provinces speci- 
fied the following as the objects of the League: " 1. To re-estab- 
lish and maintain the service of God according to the rites of the 
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 2. To preserve the royal 
authority of King Henry and his successors, and the due submis- 
sion and obedience of their subjects, according to the tenor of the 
coronation oath and the constitutions of the States-General. 3. 
In case of armed opposition or rebellion, the members engaged to 
employ every means in their power to resist, punish, and destroy 
it, even to the sacrifice of property and life itself 4. Any one 
who, afteu having taken the oath, should abandon the League, was 
to be treated as a public enemy, and punished with death. And, 
lastly, each member swore to honor and implicitly obey the su- 
preme head of the confederation, who, though not named, was uni- 
versally understood to be the Duke of Guise. 

The organization of the League spread Avith incredible rapidity 
tliroughout the country, and within a feAV months it counted up- 
Avard of 30,000 enrolled members. 

.When the States-General met at Blois in December, 1576, it 
became manifest at once that the ncAV combination had exercised 
a decisive influence on the elections, and that the League Avas all- 
powerful. The king opened the session Avith a speech full of dig- 
nity, good sense, and moderation ; but so completely had his scan- 
dalous life deprived him of all national respect, that his words 
wore received Avith utter indifliirence. The deputies, almost Avith- 
out exception determined Catholics, proceeded to make demands 



350 HENRY III. Chap. XVII. 

directed not only against liberty in matters of religion, but against 
the authority and independence of the crown. Henry, with con- 
siderable address and skill, endeavored to parry this attack by sud- 
denly declaring himself head of the League, and commanding all 
his courtiers and officers to take the oath of federation : he hoped 
tlius to disarm the rivalry of the Duke of Guise, and sap his pow- 
er by leaving him no excuse for his meditated disloyalty. This 
step drove the Huguenots once more to arms ; but the States, un- 
der the influence of the Duke of Guise, obstinately refused to 
grant any supplies to the crown; and Henry, whose scanty re- 
sources were soon exhausted, gladly accepted overtures for a paci- 
fication, which was accordingly signed at Bergerac in September, 
1577. The new treaty accorded to the Protestants a somewhat 
more restricted exercise of their religion, but confirmed them in 
all civil privileges, and in the possession of the eight cautionary 
towns. It also contained a clause suppressing and prohibiting 
for the future all political confederations whatsoever — an article 
which proved the king's utter insincerity in embracing the Catholic 
League. This arrangement, however, like all its predecessors, 
proved altogether fruitless : the violent partisans on each side re- 
mained no less irreconcilably hostile than before. 

§ 4. During the interval of I'epose which followed, Henry aban- 
doned himself without restraint to those disgraceful vices and out- 
rageous buifooneries which wei-e the bane of his character and his 
reign, and which inflicted a deep and lasting injury on the social 
condition of France. The court became alternately the scene of 
unbridled sensuality and of fierce brawls, bloody duels, and licensed 
assassination. On one occasion three of the king's minions, who 
were not deficient in personal valor, fought publicly with thi'ec 
creatures of the Duke of Guise. Four of the combatants were 
killed on the spot, among whom were two of Henry's favorites. 
Over their dead bodies the monarch made a most preposterous and 
degrading exhibition of efieminate sorrow and fondness, and erect- 
ed for them a sumptuous mausoleum in the chui'ch of St. Paul at 
Paris. 

§ 5. In 1581 the Duke of Anjou (formerly Duke of Alen^on) 
collected, with his brother's consent, a considerable French army 
in support of the Flemish patriots. Plenry excused himself to 
Philip for sanctioning this step by alleging the perplexities of his 
position, and his inability to restrain the eagerness of his Hugue- 
not subjects to support their co-religionists in the Low Countries ; 
but in reality he rejoiced in the prospect of thus ridding himself 
of a brother whom he both detested and feared, and of some thou- 
pniids of soldiers who had long since disowned his authority. The 
I''rcnch prince crossed the frontier in August, 1581, and success- 



A.D. 157G-1584. DEATH OF THE DUKE OF ANJOU. 351 

fully besieged Cambrai, wliich was defended by the celebrated Alex- 
ander Farnese, prince of Parma. The negotiations, which had 
long been pending, for the marriage of the duke with Queen Eliza- 
betli of England, seemed destined at this moment to be finally suc- 
cessful ; the queen even proceeded so far as to go through the 
ceremony of betrothal. The people of the Netherlands, highly 
elated by this brilliant prospect, every where welcomed Anjou with 
the utmost enthusiasm ; and he was proclaimed Duke of Brabant 
and Count of Flanders with great pomp at Antwerp, in February, 
1582. But Elizabeth, whose sincerity in the whole affair seems 
more than questionable, retracted at the last moment, on the plea 
that the marriage would not be acceptable to the English nation. 
The match was broken off; the vision of the English alliance, so 
vitally important to the cause of independence in the Netherlands, 
suddenly vanished ; and the Duke of Anjou and his adherents weie 
greatly discouraged by the reverse. The ill-advised young prince 
committed soon afterwai'd an unpardonable offense against his new 
subjects by seizing Antwerp, Bruges, and other fortresses, from 
which he forcibly expeljed the Flemish garrisons, and replaced 
them by his French troops, with a view of making himself an ab- 
solute sovereign. The populace rose indignantly against him, and 
the attempted treachery signally failed ; Anjou was driven from 
Flanders ; and the Spaniards, led by the victorious Prince of Par- 
ma, recovered fo? the moment their superiority. The discomfited 
duke returned to France, where, after languishing for about a year, 
he died at Chateau-Thierry, prematurely worn out by disease and 
chagrin, on the 10th of June, 1584. 

§ 6. This event produced an important alteration in the posture 
of affairs. Henry III. had latterly become more and more incap- 
able of any vigorous and manly exertion, and had abandoned the 
whole administration to two newly-promoted favorites, the Dukes 
of Joyeuse and Epe^jon. The monarchy was rapidly tending to- 
Avard disorganization and ruin ; and in proportion as the reigning 
family sank into contempt, the cabals of the Guises became more 
and more audacious, and they made little seci'et of their determin- 
ation to erect the fortunes of their own house upon the crumbling 
throne of the Valois. Henry had no reasonable hope of posteri- 
ty, and was not likely to be long-lived ; the Duke of Anjou, his 
only remaining brother, was now dead, and had left no issue ; and 
it became an urgent question, to Avhom would the crown of France 
rightfully descend on the decease of the present possessor? Henry 
of Navarre traced his lineage by direct succession from Kobert of 
Clermont, a son of St. Louis ; but, although thus the first prince 
of the blood, his relationship to the reigning monarch was ex- 
tremely remote, reaching only to tlie ^wenty-second degree; and, 



352 HENRY III. CiiAi-. XVII. 

what was far more fatal to his claims, Henry was a Huguenot, an 
excommunicated and relapsed heretic, the leader of a faction des- 
perately bent on religious and civil revolution. That an apostate 
from the Catholic faith should wear the diadem of France was 
forbidden alike by the fundamental laws of the monarchy and by 
the consecrated traditions of a thousand yeai'S. On the other 
hand, it was contended that the genealogy of the house of Lor- 
raine proved those princes to be the true heirs of Charles of Lor- 
raine, the last of the Carlovingian dynasty, so that the Guises, in 
taking possession of the throne on the extinction of the line of 
Valois, Avould only be resuming their usurped inheritance.* The 
League accordingly began to reorganize its forces, and commenced 
a fresh agitation, based on the imperative duty of combating the 
succession of a heretic prince, and maintaining the essential union 
of the crown with the ancient faith. Guise, however, judged that 
things were not yet ripe for the public assertion of his personal 
pretensions. For the present he put forward, as the legitimate 
successor in case of the king's death, the Cardinal of Bourbon, 
uncle of Henry of Navarre, an ignorant, feeble-minded man, who 
might easily be shaken off at the decisive moment. 

In January, 1585, a secret treaty was signed at the chateau of 
Joinville between the chiefs of the League and the envoys of Philip 
of Spain, by which the contracting parties engaged to extirpate all 
heresy both in France and in the Netherlands, and to exclude from 
the French throne any prince who should either profess, favor, or 
tolerate the pernicious doctrines of the so-called Keformers. Philip 
bound himself to furnish a subsidy of 50,000 crowns every month 
for the prosecution of the war. This compact having received the 
approval of the Pope, the League published a solemn manifesto in 
the name of the Cardinal of Bourbon, setting forth the national 
grievances and subjects of alarm, declaring that as Catholics they 
had taken up arms in defense of the true religion, and expressing 
tiieir resolution never to lay them down until the perils by which 
the nation was now encompassed should have disappeared. 

The explosion followed almost immediately. The Dukes of 
Guise and Mayenne mai'shaled their troops in their governments 
of Champagne and Burgundy ; Normandy and Brittany rose un- 
der the Dukes of Elboeuf and Mercojur; the Duke of Au male 
headed the revolt in Picardy. All the principal cities of the 
north, east, and southeast of France — Orleans, Bourges, Reims, 
Dijon, Lyons, Caen, Soissons, Amiens — declared enthusiastically 
ill favor of the League. 

* Supposing, however, this claim to be admissible, the Duke of Loi-rainc 
would evidently have taken precedence of the Duke of Guise, who represent- 
c I a youn.i:;er brancli of the family. 



A.D. 1584-1587. TREATY OF NEMOURS. 353 

§ 7. This new danger found the king in a pitiable state of im- 
potent vacillation. A few months previously William, prince of 
Orange, had fallen beneath the blow of an assassin, hired, it is 
more than suspected, by the King of Spain, and directed by the 
Jesuits. The United Provinces of the Netherlands now turned to 
France for support, and unanimously offered to Plenry the sover- 
eignty Avhich had been possessed by his brother of Anjou. The 
king hesitated ; he ardently desired to make this splendid acquisi- 
tion ; but, on the other hand, he shrunk from incurring the hazard 
of a war with Spain, and he feared to reawaken the dormant ani- 
mosity of the League. He answered the Dutch embassadors fa- 
vorably, but made no positive promise. The Leaguers discovered 
the negotiation, and it became one of the chief motives which im- 
pelled them into fresh hostilities against the crown. 

The king, though taken by surprise, was still not without the 
means of defense against this alarming confederacy. Many of the 
great provincial cities, including Bordeaux, remained faithful to 
the crown ; and even Henry of Navarre, although he refused to 
relinquish his connection with the Huguenots, assured the king 
of his steadfast loyalty, and offered to prove it by joining his 
standard with the whole body of his adherents. A vigorous, de- 
termined, and popular sovereign might have successfully confronted 
and crushed the League ; but Henry, conscious of his. real weak- 
ness, and prostrated by his excesses, thought only of purchasing 
repose at any pi'ice ; and no sooner did Guise make a demonstra- 
tion of advancing on the capital, than the king yielded uncondi- 
tionally, and signed the treaty of Nemours, by which he engaged 
to revoke all edicts in favor of the Protestants, to enforce the uni- 
versal profession of Catholicism, and, in short, to adopt without 
reservation the principles and policy of the League. All the chief 
posts of authority in the kingdom were now bestowed upon the 
Duke of Guise and the great Catholic leaders; and this recon- 
ciliation between Henry and the traitorous confederacy which so 
lately menaced his throne was hailed with loud and general ac- 
clamations by the citizens of Paris. On the other hand, the news 
spread consternation among the outraged Huguenots, and once 
more lighted up the flames of civil war throughout France. Hen- 
ry of Navarre, who was now formally excommunicated by I'opc 
Sixtus v., displayed extraordinary activity, brilliant courage, and 
great ability as a party leader. The " war of the Henries," as it 
was styled, presented at its commencement no combined opera- 
tions on an important scale, but was none the less lamentable and 
ruinous to the country, which became a scene of general anarchy 
and sanguinary violence. 

A new phase of this complicated struggle opened in the begin- 



354 HENRY III. Chap. XVII. 

ning of 1587, when the astounding tidings reached France that the 
Queen of England, in consequence of a detected conspiracy of the 
Catholics against her crown and life, had sent her unfortunate 
rival, Mary Stuart, to perish on the scaffold. Paris was at this 
time completely dominated by the League, who had established 
there a secret council entitled the "Seize," from its consisting of 
representatives from the sixteen sections into which the city was 
divided. These demagogues were the absolute creatures of the 
Duke of Guise, and were perpetually hatching revolutionary plots 
for the aggrandizement and triumph of their patron. The horror 
and commotion caused by the execution of the Queen of Scots 
was seized by them as a means of exciting popular indignation 
and violence against the king, whom they accused, without the 
slightest proof or probability, of having counseled and abetted the 
crime. The sections were soon engaged in a conspiracy to sur- 
prise the Bastile and other military posts of Paris, to blockade the 
Louvre, put to death the principal officers of the court, and com- 
pel the king to abdicate the throne, as the sole means of preserv- 
ing his life. The plot was revealed to Henry on the eve of its 
execution ; and measures being taken to insure the defense of the 
points indicated, the conspirators abandoned their scheme. The 
agitation, however, continued to increase, and was extended, 
through the instrumentality of the League, throughout the coun- 
try ; and the king, finding more and more reason to distrust the 
intrigues and designs of Guise, resolved to prosecute the war with 
vigor, and bring it to a close, if possible, by a solid and durable 
peace. 

§ 8. The royal army took the field in June, 1587, in three great 
divisions ; one of which, under the Duke of Joyeuse, advanced into 
Poitou against Henry of Navarre ; the second, commanded by the 
Duke of Guise, was opposed to the German auxiliaries in Lor- 
raine; while the king himself and the Duke of Montpensier took 
up a position with the reserve on the Loire. The king's secret 
hope and object was, that both the Huguenots and the Leaguers 
might, in the course of this campaign, be decisively defeated and 
crushed, in which case he would himself remain master of the sit- 
uation, and the way would be open for a complete re-establish- 
ment of the supremacy of the crown. But his calculations Avere 
destined to a signal disappointment. 

The King of Navarre, after attempting in vain to efifect a junc- 
tion with the Germans, fell back toward Guienne, closely followed 
by Joyeuse, who hoped to hem in the Huguenots between himself 
and Marshal Matignon. The armies engaged on the 20th of Oc- 
tober at Coutras in the Perigord ; the Catholics numbered about 
ein:ht thousand, the Protestants considerably less. "My cousins," 



A.D. 1587, 1588. GUISE ENTERS PARIS. 355 

cried Heniy to the Prince of Conde and the Count of Soissons, 
" I have only to remind you that you belong to the blood of the 
Bourbons, and by the help of God I will show you to-day that 
mine is the elder branch ! " He gained a memorable victory at 
the cost of only forty men slain. The Koyalists lost their general, 
the Duke of Joyeuse, who was shot by a Huguenot after yielding 
himself prisoner ; five hundred gentlemen and upward of two thou- 
sand soldiers were left dead on the field. This great success, how- 
ever, had no proportionate result ; for Henry, like a knight-errant 
of the Dark Ages, hurried away into Beam immediately aftei 
the battle, to lay his trophies at the feet of his mistress, the fair 
Corisande, countess of Grammont. This act of weakness left the 
German auxiliaries exposed to the combined attack of the royal 
armies in the north. They were beaten in two successive actions, 
and, after suffering tremendous losses in a disastrous retreat into 
Burgundy, at length entered into a convention Avith Henry, and 
were permitted to evacuate the kingdom. 

The king returned to Paris, where he made his triumphal entry 
on the 23d of December, but found, to his extreme mortification, 
that the entire credit and glory of the campaign was assigned by 
the Parisians to their idol, the Duke of Guise. " Saul has slain his 
thousands," cried the multitude, "but David his ten thousands." 
The Sorbonne passed a decree announcing that it was lawful to 
depose from power rulers who misconducted themselves, as a 
guardian might be removed if suspected- of betraying his trust. 
Henry, exasperated and alarmed, interdicted Guise from coming to 
Paris ; but the duke knew his power, and this arbitrary measure 
only drove him to extremities. After an anxious interval of four 
months, during which the Seize and other chief agents of the 
League intrigued incessantly to mature matters for a general in- 
surrection in his favor. Guise entered Paris, escorted by a formi- 
dable train of nobles and gentry, and amid the tumultuous rejoic- 
ings and plaudits of the populace, on the 8th of May, 1588. He 
proceeded boldly to the Louvre, and was introduced by the queen- 
mother into the royal cabinet, where Henry and his intimate con- 
fidants wei*e debating at that moment the question of his life or 
death. The king, pale with rage and terror, I'ebuked him for hav- 
ing come to Paris in defiance of his express prohibition. Guise 
replied that he had come to defend himself from the calumnies of 
his enemies, and to invoke the king's justice against them. Hen- 
ry sternly rejoined that his innocence would be apparent if no 
popular riots or revolutionary movements should follow his arriv- 
al. The duke retired unharmed ; and on the following day had 
two audiences of the king, in which he urged him, in terms of in- 
solent dictation, to prosecute with vigor the war against the Hu- 



356 HENRY III. Chap. XVIL 

gueiiots, and to take effectual measures to prevent the succession 
of a heretic prince to the throne. Heniy answered that he could 
not make war without money, and had no means of procuring it ; 
and after much bitter recrimination the parties separated, each 
convinced that the struggle between them could only be decided 
by force. 

§ 9. During the night of the 11th the royal troops, consisting 
of the regiment of French guards and a body of four thousand 
Swiss, entered the city. But the League was on the alert; the 
alarm was given immediately in the sections, and at daylight the 
whole population of Paris was under arms. The Seize had fore- 
seen and provided for the emergency ; under their direction, strong 
barricades, formed of paving-stones, rafters, carts, and barrels, Avere 
hastily thrown up in the chief thoroughfares ; heavy chains were 
drawn across the entrance of each street ; every house was con- 
verted into a fortress ; each barricade was defended by a band of 
well-armed and well-commanded citizens. The king's troops ad- 
vanced to occupy the Place St. Antoine and Place Maubue ; they 
were furiously attacked by the insurgents, and after a brief contest 
were overpowered and surrendered. The exulting victors rushed 
on with wild cries toward the Louvre, and established a barricade 
Avithin a few yards of the palace. The terrified monarch found 
himself absolutely at the mercy of the League ; lie ordered his sol- 
diers to retreat, and sent Biron to beseech the Duke of Guise to 
put a stop to the effusion of blood. The duke, anxious to gain 
credit for moderation, made his appearance unarmed in the streets, 
appeased as if by magic the raging multitude, liberated the Swiss 
who were blockaded in the Cimetiere des Innocens, restored their 
arms, and caused them, together Avith the rest of their comrades, 
to be reconducted in safety to the Louvre. After such a mani- 
festation of his strength Guise could afford to be generous ; he 
Avell knew that the court could no longer refuse to grant his de- 
mands, however exorbitant and humiliating. He had scarcely re-, 
turned to his hotel when the queen-mother arrived to propose ne- 
gotiations on the part of Henry. The conditions dictated by Guise 
were those of a conqueror to the vanquished ; he required his own 
appointment as lieutenant general of the kingdom, with the entire 
direction of the war against the Huguenots ; all the great provin- 
cial governments for his relatives and chief friends; the dismissal 
of Epernon and other royal favorites ; an edict declaring Henry 
of Navarre and his family incapable of succeeding to the throne ; 
and the convocation of the States-General. These concessions 
would have amounted to a virtual abdication of the throne. Cath- 
arine, after consulting with the king, returned to the duke next 
day, and debated his propositions one by one at considerable length, 



A.D. 1588. THE BARRICADES.— EDICT OF UNIOX. 357 

employing all her powers of eloquence and persuasion to obtain 
easier terms, but in vain. Poinding Guise inflexible, she secretly 
dispatched a message to tliat effect to the palace, upon which Hen- 
ry, who had made his preparations, instantly took horse with his 
immediate attendants, escaped a few shots wliich were aimed at 
him from one of the city gates, reached Rambouillet that night, 
and continued his flight next day to Chartres. 

§ 10. Although the victor of the Barricades had thus let slip a 
. great opportunity in neglecting to secure the person of the sover- 
eign, he was nevertheless left master of the capital, and therefore, 
in fact, of the government. Great democratic changes followed ; 
the city magistrates were deposed, and replaced by the most de- 
voted members of the League ; the new municipal council took 
possession of the Bastile, the Chatelet, the Arsenal, Vincennes, and 
all the posts of importance in the neighborhood of Paris ; they 
published a rigorous proscription of the Huguenots and the Poli- 
tiques ; they sent circulars to all the chief towns of France, ex- 
plaining and justifying the late movement, and urging the prov- 
inces to support the good cause by sending approved delegates to 
consult with the leaders in Paris, and adopting general measures 
of co-operation. 

The Duke of Guise, however, while thus boldly seizing the re- 
ality of power, by no means designed, at all events for the present, 
to raise openly the standard of armed rebellion. He entered into 
communication witli the fugitive monarch, and sent him a respect- 
ful deputation of the municipality of Paris, with renewed proposals 
of accommodation, which varied very little from those oiFered after 
the day of the Barricades. Henry, after some hesitation, gave his 
assent to these conditions ; and on the 19th of July the treaty be- 
tween the coui't and the League, called the Edict of Union, was 
puMished at Eouen and Paris. The king named the Duke of 
Guise lieutenant general of the kingdom, pledged himself to use 
his utmost exertions for the suppression of heresy, dismissed Eper- 
non from his councils, restored the towns promised to the League 
by the treaty of Nemours, exacted a test of Catholicism from all 
holders of public emploj^ments, and convoked the States-General 
at Blois. Other honors and preferments were bestowed on the 
chief partisans of the League. But this reconciliation, extorted 
from Henry by the stern exigencies of the moment, was on his 
part profoundly insincere, and concealed purposes of implacable 
and deadly vengeance. 

The king, accompanied by the Duke of Guise, took up his resi- 
dence in the chateau of Blois in September, and the session of the 
States was opened at that place on the 16th of October. The 
deputies were exclusively Catholics, and for the most part strongly 



358 HENRY III. Chap. XVII. 

in the interest of the League. The assembly soon displayed its 
violent, factious, intractable spirit ; the king was forced to take an 
oath to observe and enforce the Edict of Union, and to renew the 
sentence of exclusion from the throne against the Bourbons. The 
States next demanded that all new taxes imposed since the year 
1576 should be suppressed, and all offices created within the same 
period abolished ; at the same time they obstinately refused to 
grant any fresh supplies, and voted the establishment of a judicial 
chamber — in which three fourths of the members were to be 
named by themselves — to investigate and control the financial 
administration. Henry, whose coifers were so completely ex- 
hausted that he was unable to defray the current expenses of his 
household, yielded as a matter of necessity, but only obtained in 
return for his compliance a reluctant and niggardly subsidy, quite 
inadequate to his requirements. 

§ 11. All these accumulated insults and humiliations were im- 
puted by Henry to the Duke of Guise, whom he knew to be om- 
nipotent with the States. The duke's demeanor had become in- 
tolerably haughty and overbearing; his friends were in a constant 
state of revolutionary ferment, watching their opportunity to su- 
persede the king altogether, and usurp the supreme authority for 
their leader. The Duchess of Montpensier, sister of Guise, Avas 
in the habit of wearing a pair of golden scissors at her girdle, and 
openly proclaimed her purpose to perform the operation of tonsure 
on the last of the Yalois, who was thereupon to be consigned for 
life to a dungeon, after the fashion of the effete Merovingians. 
The king savk^ that matters had arrived at such a pass that either 
himself or his too powei-ful subject must succumb and perish. He 
knew that it was useless to attempt the expedient of a trial by 
law, since no court existed in the kingdom that would venture to 
convict the Duke of Guise. Extreme measures, he argued, "\ifcre 
justified by extreme emergencies ; an evident and imminent dan- 
ger is to be met by necessary acts of self-defense. After a severe 
conflict with himself, Henry resolved to employ assassination as 
tlie surest means of ridding himself forever of this arch-disturber 
of his peace. The execution of it was intrusted to Loignac, first 
gentleman of the royal chamber, with eight associates. 

Guise, meanwhile, received .repeated secret intimations of the 
fate in preparation for him, but treated them with lofty disdain. 
"They dare not!" he exclaimed; and added, that circumstances 
had brought him to such a pitch of desperation that, even if he 
saw death coming in at one of the windows, he would not take 
the trouble to leave the room to escape him. 

The king, intending to keep the festival of Christmas at Notre 
Dame de Clt'ry, had appointed a council to be held before liis dc-< 



A.D. 1588, 1589. ASSA'SSINATION OF THE GUISES. 359 

parture on the 23cl of December, at an early hour in the morning. 
Having posted the assassins in his antechamber, and distributed 
daggers to them with his own hands, Henry sent an officer to 
summon the duke into his private cabinet, as if to confer with him 
apart before the council assembled. Guise, with strange infatua- 
tion, and maintaining .unmoved confidence, immediately obeyed. 
As he Avas in the act of raising the tapestry which covered the 
door of the king's chamber, one of the murderers seized his arm 
and struck him a violent blow on the breast ; a second stabbed 
him in the back ; the rest threw themselves upon him, and pre- 
vented him from drawing his weapon. Such, however, was the 
vigor of his powerful frame, that he dragged his assailants across 
the room, disengaged himself from them, and, collecting all his 
strength, rushed desperately toward Loignac, the chief of the band. 
Loignac pushed him slightly with his scabbard, and the duke, I'eel- 
ing backward, fell headlong to the ground, and expired at the foot 
of the king's bed. Henry now issued from an adjoining closet 
into which he had retired, satisfied himself that his enemy could 
no longer harm him, and was brutal enough to spurn the palpitat- 
ing corpse with his foot, uttering words of indecent triumph. Then 
descending to the apartments of the queen-mother, " Madam," he 
cried, "congratulate me ; I am once more King of France, for this 
morning I have put to death the King of Paris !" 

The Cardinal of Lorraine Avas arrested the same day, and pri- 
vately dispatched in prison. The Archbishop of Lyons, Brissac, 
La Chapelle-Marteau, the Dukes of Nemours and Elboeuf, and oth- 
er notabilities of the League, Avere also apprehended and detained 
in close custody. The death of the queen -mother, Avhich occurred 
Avithin a few days afterwai'd, January 5, 1589, though at any other 
moment an event of no coihmon importance, was scarcely noticed 
in the midst of the consternation excited by the murder of the 
Guises. This extraordinary personage, after presiding for near 
thirty years over the desiinies of France, had outlived her politic- 
al influence, and died an object of general aversion and contempt. 

§ 12. The news of the catastrophe at Blois produced a terrible 
explosion of popular fury at Paris and among the Leaguers through- 
out the kingdom. The capital revolted forthwith ; the Sorbonne 
passed a decree releasing all Frenchmen from their oath of alle- 
giance to Henry III., and authorizing them to rise in arms against 
him ; a provisional government Avas appointed, and the Duke of 
Aumale, younger brother of Henry of Guise, was named to the 
chief command of Paris. The Parliament, after having been 
purged of sixty refractory members headed by the President De 
Harlai, confirmed the decision of the Sorbonne, pronounced the 
king deposed from tlic throne, and- udliercd to the revolutionary 



360 HENRY III. Chap. XVII. 

government. Henry was at the same time excommunicated by 
the Pope for having murdered one of the princes of the Church. 
The insurrection spread rapidly into the provinces. The Duke 
of Mayenne, next brother of the murdered Guise, entered Paris on 
the 12th of February, 1589, and was saluted with enthusiastic ac- 
clamations as supreme chief of the Catholic confederacy ; the new 
government was now definitely constituted under his presidency 
at a vast assembly of nobles and military and civil authorities held 
at the Hotel de Ville. 

§ 13. The king was dismayed and confounded by this formidable 
outburst of the tempest which his crime had provoked. Gradu- 
ally recovering his courage, he removed from Blois to Tours, where, 
after some delay, the Royalist nobility rallied round him, and he 
was joined by two thousand men under the Duke of Epernon. 
A renewal of civil war was unavoidable and imminent. Henry's 
means of defense were miserably scanty ; the Leaguers rudely re- 
pulsed all his proposals of accommodation ; and the only resource 
remaining to him Avas to effect a coalition with the opposite par- 
ty, and throw himself into the arms of Henry of Navarre and the 
Huguenots. This singular alliance was concluded in April, 1589 ; 
Henry of Navarre had an interview with the king, and engaged 
to unite his forces with the Royalists for the defense of the mon- 
archy against the rebel League. An admirable manifesto, drawn 
up in his name by Duplessis-Mornay, was immediately issued, in 
which Henry assumed the tone of a mediator between the king, 
the States-General, and the League, and made an earnest and pow- 
erful appeal to the moderate members of all parties to bury their 
differences, and associate for the safety of the state and the redress 
of national evils. 

This junction between the court and the Protestants materially 
changed the situation of parties and the aspect of affairs. It wr.s 
now the Catholic League that represented the cause of democracy 
and revolution, while the Huguenots gathered round the standard 
of legitimate authority, loyalty, and order. The king was thus 
enabled to open the campaign in great force, and with fair pros- 
pect of success. The two kings made a combined movement to- 
ward the capital, driving the Leaguers before them. Crossing the 
Seine on the 30th of July, Henry IlL established his head-quai- 
ters at St. Cloud, while the King of Navarre and the Huguenots 
encamped at Meudon. 

§ 14. Paris was in a state of trepidation ; for the Duke of May- 
enne had but eight thousand men to oppose to these overpowering 
numbers. It was Avell known that, if the city were taken, the 
king would avenge himself without mei'cy upon those who had so 
ignominiously expelled him from his palace the year before, and 



A.D. 1589. ASSASSINATION OF THE KING. 3G1 

wlio had since openly rebelled against his crown. The Duchess 
of Montpensier, a woman of masculine energy and resolution, 
spared no pains to inflame to the utmost the angry passions of the 
multitude against the tyrant who had shed her brother's blood ; 
and among other expedients, strong appeals were made to the fa- 
naticism of the priesthood and religious orders, to whom Henry 
was now specially odious, as an outcast from the Church and the 
confederate of heretics. A young and ignorant Dominican monk, 
named Jacques Clement, was artfully prevailed upon to regard the 
inui'der of the king under such circumstances as not only a law- 
ful, but a highly meritorious enterprise. He resolved to accom- 
plish it, and prepared himself for the deed by fasting, the sacra- 
ments, and prayer. Paris was to be assaulted by the combined 
armies on the 2d of August. On the 31st of July, Jacques. Clem- 
ent, having procured a pass from a Royalist prisoner, and a forged 
letter of recommendation to the king, proceeded to the outposts 
of the royal army at St. Cloud, and next morning Avas conducted 
by an officer to the king's quarters. On entering Henry's pres- 
ence he stated that he was charged with a communication of grave 
importance, which could only be made to his majesty in private. 
The king, without suspicion, directed the attendants to retire | 
and while he was engaged in reading the paper presented to him, 
the monk suddenly drew a knife from his sleeve and plunged it 
into his abdomen. The king drew the weapon from the Avound 
and struck Clement on the face, crying out, " Oh the wicked monk, 
he has slain me !" upon which the guards rushed in and dispatch- 
ed the wretched assassin on the spot with their halberds. The 
king's Avound was not at first considered mortal ; nevertheless, he 
summoned Henry of Navarre, acknowledged him as the laAvful 
successor to the throne, and caused the nobles to take the oath of 
homage in his presence. Toward midnight fatal symptoms pre- 
sented themselves, and the king, having pardoned the authors of 
his death and recei\'ed the viaticum, breathed his last between 
two and three o'clock in the morning of the 2d of August, 1589. 
Such Avas the tragic and miserable termination of the royal dy- 
nasty of Valois, which had given thirteen sovereigns to France, 
and had filled the throne during a period of tAvo hundred and six- 
ty-one years. 

Q 



362 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. XVIL 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



AUTHORITIES. 

The great original authority for the latter 
half of tlie 16th century and the commence- 
ment of the 17th is the Historia sui Temporis 
of Jacques August e de Thou, or Thuamis, 
one of the presidents a mortier of the Parlia- 
ment of Paris. The original is in Latin, 6 
vols, folio ; there is a French translation, 8 
vols, quarto. This work commences with the 
year 1545, and is carried down to 160T. Tlie 
first book consists of an admirable review of 
the previous history of France and of Europe. 
On account of certain passages the tendency 
of which was con'sidered injurious to the 
Church of l^ome, this noble work was in 1609 
inserted in the Index E.rjyurgatoriu-". The 
author died at Paris in 1617. 

Another contemporary work of authority 



for this period is that of Davila, the Italian 
secretary of Queen Catharine de' Medici. 
His HUtorii of the Civil Wars in France, 
composed in Italian, extends from the death 
of Heniy II. in 155D to the Peace of Vervins 
in 1598. Davila shows an evident bias of 
partialitj' toward the French court ; but his 
great care and exactness in appreciating the 
character and motives of the various leaders 
and factions of the time render his work one 
of indispensable value and interest. 

The contemporary Memoires are very nu- 
merous ; among them may be mentioned 
those of Viellevllle. Marguerite de Valois, 
MarsHal Tavannes, and Duplessis-Momay. 

The History of his oion 'I'iwc, by tli? Hu- 
guenot Theodore A gn'ppa d'Aubigm' , also de- 
serves to be mentioned. 



Chap. XVIII. HOUSE OF BOUKBON. 



Genealogical Table of the House of Boukbon. 

Robert, count of Clermont := Beatrice, heiress of Bourbon, 12T3. 

younger son of St. Louis. | 



Louis, duke of Bourbon, ob. 1341. 

I 



363 



Peter, duke of Bourbon, James, count de la Marche. 

anctsto)' of the Cout^table | 

Charles, duke of Bourbon. John, count de la Marclie = Catharine, heiress of Vendume. 

I .. 
Louis, count of Vendome, ob. 1441. 

John, count of Vendume, ob. 14T7. 



Francis, count of ^'end6me. Louis, prince of La Roche-sur- Von 

I = Loui.-'M. countess of Jlontp^nsier. 

I ' This branch became e.xtinct IGOS. 

Charles, first duke of Vendome. 

I 
Antoine, duke of Vendome = Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre, ob. 1572. 
I 
IIenky IV., king of France and Navarre, 15SD-1C10. 
=: 1 . Marguerite de Valois, d. of Henry II. 
2. Mary de' Medici. 
. \ 

I \ \ \ I 

Louis XI IL, king, Gaston, duke of Flizabeth Christiana Henrietta Maria 

1010-1043 = Anne Orleans, =PiiilipIV. = duke of = Charles L 

of Austria, d. of ob. IGGO. of i^pain, Savoy, of England, 

Philip 111. of Spain. ob. 1004. ob. 1GG3. ob. 1009. 



I- 1 

Louis XIV., king, 1G43-1T15 Philip, duke of Orleans 

= M a I'ia Theresa, d. of (founder of the branch of Bourbon-Orleans), 
Ihilip IV. of Spain. ob. ITOl. 

! 

Louis, the dauphin, ob. 1711 = Mary Anne Christine Victoire of Bavaria. 



Louis, duke of Burgundy, Philip V. of Spain. Charles, duke of BeiTy, 

ob. 1712 = JIary AdcUii;.c ob. 1714. 

of Savoy. 

Louis XV., king, 1715-1 741 = Mary Leczynska of Poland. 



Louis, the dauphin, ob. 1705. Six daughters. 

I-' i ^ 1 

Loris XVI., Louis Stanislas Xaviev, Charles Pliilip, Three 

king, 1774-1793 count of Provence, count of Artois, daughters. 

= Marie Antoinette afterward Louis XVIII., afterward Cii.\ele8 X., 

ofAustria. king, 1S14-1S24. king, 1S24-1 830. ob.lSSO. 



I I ' I I 

J' ari.^ Theresa Louis XVII. Louis, duke of Charles Ferdinand, duke of 

=: I^ouis, duke never re:gned. Angouleme Berry, assassinated, Feb. 1S20, 

of AngouKnie. ob. 1795. = Maria Theresa, 

daughter of Louis XVI. 



Henry, duke of Bordeaux, Iv u'sa, 

comte de Cluuiibord—" Henry V." du'h ss of I'anna. 




Chateau of 1 au befoie IbSO, 'buthplaca of Henry IV. 



BOOK VI. 
THE ABSOLUTE MONAECHY. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. TO THE REVOLUTION. 
A.D. 1589-1789. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE HOUSE OF BOURBON. HENRY IV. A.D. 1589-1 BIO. 

§ 1. Henry of Navarre recognized as King by the Nobles. § 2. Henry in 
Normandy; Battle of Arques ; Attack upon Paris by the Royalists. § 3. 
Battle of Ivry ; Blockade of Paris ; Paris relieved by the Duke of Parma. 
§ 4. Suppression of the Seize: Combat of Aumale; the Duke of Parma 
in Normandy. § 5. Meeting of the States-General ; Conference at Sn- 
resnes. § 6. Recantation of Henry IV. ; the King enters Paris. § 7. 
War with Spain ; Battle of Fontaine-Fran^aise ; Treaty of Folembray ; 
Dissolution of the League. § 8. The Spaniards seize Amiens ; it is re- 
captured by the King. § 9. Peace of Vervins ; Edict of Nantes. § 10. 
Internal State of France; Financial Administration of Sully. § 11. Ga- 
brielle d'Estre'es ; Divorce of the King ; his Marriage with Mary de' Med- 
ici ; Henriette d'Entragues. § 12. Intrigues of the Duke of Savoy ; Trea- 
son and Execution of Marshal Biron. § 13. Henry's Project of a Con- 
federacy of European States. § H. Succession of the Duchy of Ckves : 
Treaty of Halle; Henry prepares for War with Austria; the Princess of 
Conde. § 15. Coronation of Mary do' Medici; Assassination of Jlenry 
IV. ; his Character. 



A.D. 1589. HENRY OF NAVARRE RECOGNIZED AS KING. 3G5 

§ 1. Thje news of the assassination was received with an extrav- 
agant burst of rejoicing in the besieged capital. The Duchesses 
of Nemours and Montpensier paraded the streets in triumph ; 
Jacques Clement was celebrated as a martyr and invoked as a 
saint ; the Leaguers exulted and congratulated each other, as if 
the final success of their cause were already achieved. The 
Guises, however, although the course of events seemed now to 
have placed the crown Avithin their reach, hesitated to take ad- 
vantage of the opportunity. The Duke of Mayenne was much 
inferior in genius and daring to his elder brother, and shrunk from 
causing a division of his party. He proclaimed the Cardinal of 
Bourbon (then a prisoner at Tours) king, by the title of Charles 
X., and contented himself with the appointment of " Lieutenant 
General of the State and Crown of France." 

In the camp of St. Cloud the confusion and perplexity were at 
first extreme. The Catholic nobles, notwithstanding their recent 
engagement, showed a strong disinclination to accept the succes- 
sion of the Huguenot Henry of Bourbon ; they held a meeting, 
and placed before him in plain terms the alternative of remaining 
simply King of Navarre if he persisted in his heresy, or of em- 
bracing Catholicism and becoming King of France. Plenry re- 
monstrated with dignity against this rude treatment, and pointed 
out that such a sudden cluinge of profession could only be expect- 
ed from a man with no fiixed belief at all. At the same time he 
declared himself ready to submit to the instruction of a national 
council, and to give all necessary guai-antees for the security of 
the Catholic religion. After some farther discussion, it was agreed 
to recognize hint on these terms ; and on the 4th of August Henry 
signed, as King of France and Navarre, a solemn declaration, by 
which he bound himself to maintain the Catholic faith and the 
property and rights of the Church, to summon within six months 
a lawful national council and abide by its decisions, and to place 
in the hands of the Catholics all towns and fortresses, except those 
which had been assigned to the Protestants by the last treaty. 
This document was subscribed by the chief personages of the late 
court, including the Dukes of Conti,Longueville, and Montpensier, 
and Marshals Biron and D'Anmont. There were, however, some 
important exceptions. The arrogant Epernon refused his concur- 
rence, and retired, with seven thousand men, to his government 
of Saintonge. The stern Huguenots of Poitou and Gascony, 
headed by La Tri'mouille, duke of Thouars, also took their depart- 
ure from St. Cloud, announcing that they could no longer serve a 
prince who had entered into an engagement to protect idolatry. 
In the course of a few days the Koyalist army had dwindled to 
half its former numbers. Henry had neither money nor military 



366 



HENRY IV. 



Chap. XVIII. 



Stores, and it was evidently impossible for him to prosecute the 
siege of Paris Avith any reasonable hope of success. Under these 
circumstances, he had thoughts of returning into the south, or, at 
all events, of retreating beyond the Loire. One of his most faith- 
ful friends, the historian D'Aubigne, firmly opposed this project ; 
and Henry, fortunately for his interests, yielded to his representa- 
tions, and decided on remaining in the north. It was this de- 
termination, in all probability, that placed him eventually in se- 
cure possession of his throne. 

§ 2. Breaking up from St. Cloud on the 8th of August, Henry 
directed his march upon Normandy. The first omen in his favor 
was the spontaneous adhesion of the governor of Dieppe, who 
placed the town in his hands ; tliis was an important acquisition, 
as Queen Elizabeth had promised to succor him with men and 
money, and the possession of Dieppe enabled him to secure his 
communication with England. Caen next declared for the Bour- 
bon cause ; and Henry, having formed a camp near Rouen, was 
prepai'ing to besiege that city, when he received intelligence that 
Mayenne had taken the field against him with the main army of 
the League, which had been largely re-enfo>x;ed, and amounted to 
near thirty thousand men. The general of the League was in the 
highest confidence, and had publicly boasted that he would soon 
bring back the " Btarnois" a prisoner to Paris. Plenry, on his 
approach, retreated from Rouen toward the coast, and fortified 
himself in a strong position at the village of Arques, about five 
miles from Dieppe. Here the Royalist army sustained and re- 




Ca-tle of Arques 



A.D. 1580, 1590. ATTACK IJI'ON PAKLS BY TIJK KOVALISTS. 3(j7 

pulsed, between the loth and 28th of September, a series of vig- 
orous attacks from the immensely superior force of Mayenne, who, 
greatly discouraged by the defeat, judged it prudent to retire. 

In his present critical situation, this first and brilliant success 
was of considerable advantage to the king. Such was the confi- 
dence it inspired in his good fortune, that within a month he found 
himself at the head of more than twenty thousand men. He now 
executed a bold 'and rapid movement upon Paris, gained three 
marches on his opponent Mayenne, and on the 31st of October 
suddenly attacked and carried all the suburbs of the capital on 
the left bank of the Seine, his soldiers shouting '' Eemember St. 
Bartholomew !" as they cut down the affrighted citizens by hund- 
reds in the streets. Mayenne, however, arrived soon afterward 
with his army ; the Parisians recovered confidence, and put them- 
selves in a posture of resolute defense. Henry therefore, having 
gratified his troops by three days of pillage, retreated southward, 
and took up his quarters at Tours, which city, as the seat of the 
Royalist Parliament, became for the time his capital. 

The spirit, vigor, and ability displayed by the king in this cam- 
paign contributed greatly to advance him in popular opinion and 
general esteem. His title was now recognized in the greater part 
of Normandy, Brittany, Touraine, Poitou, Saintonge, and Gascony ; 
he had powei-ful adherents in Dauphine, Provence, and Languedoc ; 
he was In regular diplomatic communication with all the Prot- 
estant courts, and even with some of the Italian states ; the Pope 
himself, Sixtus V., expressed himself favorable to his claim. He 
profited, too, by the dissensions which soon biroke out among his 
adversaries. Philip II. advanced pretensions to the throne on be- 
half of his daughter, the Infanta Clara Eugenia, as niece and 
nearest relative of the late king ; the Dukes of Lorraine and Savoy 
made similar claims — the former in right of his wife, a sister of 
Henry III. ; the latter as son of the Princess Marguerite, daughter 
of Francis I. The embarrassments of Mayenne were greatly aug- 
mented by the factious cabals of the Seize and the Council of the 
Union, whose views were anti-monarchical and republican. 

§ 3. In January, 1590, Henry was again in the field, and, hav- 
ing reduced several places in Maine and Lower Normandy, ad- 
vanced toward P^ris ; in the last days of February he laid siege 
to the town of Dreux. Mayenne, who had just received a strong 
re-enforcement from the Duke of Parma, marched hastily from 
Paris to relieve it ; on his approach the Poyalists made a move- 
ment a few miles northward, and on the 10th of March took up 
an excellent position on the plain of St. Andre, between Nonan- 
court and Ivry. Henry disposed his army, Avhich numbered eight 
thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry, in seven battal- 



308 HENRY IV. Chap. XVIII. 

ions, commanded by himself, D'Aumont, Montpensier, and oth- 
er able officers ; one corps was in reserve under Marshal Biron. 
"My friends," cried the monarch joyously, as he fastened on his 
helmet, " yonder is the enemy, here is your king ; and God is on 
our side. If you should lose your standards, rally round my white 
plume ; you will always find it in the path of honor and victory!" 
The Leaguers, whose force amounted to sixteen thousand men, ad- 
vanced to the attack at ten in the morning on the 14th of March. 
The combat was terrible, but brief; in less than two hours the 
whole army of Mayenne was in utter disorder, and flying in all 
directions. The Count of Egmont, who commanded the Spanish 
auxiliaries, was slain ; the German reiters were overthrown and 
cut to pieces, the Eoyalists refusing them quarter ; five pieces of 
cannon, and no less than a hundred standards, were the trophies 
of the victors. The fugitives were pui-sued as far as Mantes, 
which town, opening its gates, saved the general of the League 
from being taken prisoner. 

The victory of Ivry, one of the most complete and glorious on 
record, raised the fame of Henry of Bourbon to the highest pitch, 
and he was celebrated on all sides as a hero. The road to Paris 
now lay open to him; and it is highly probable that, had he march- 
ed at once upon the capital, the League, under the pressure of the 
recent disaster, would have been forced to surrender at a single 
blow. But Henry's advance was delayed by various obstacles. 
He spent a fortnight in reducing the towns of Vernon and Man- 
tes ; several weeks more were occupied in gaining possession of 
Corbeil, Melun,Lagny, and other plp,ces commanding the approach- 
es to Paris ; and meanwhile the Leaguers recovered from their 
panic, and thirty thousand volunteers enrolled themselves under 
the Duke of Nemours for the defense of the city. On the 7th of 
May, the Royalists at length drew up in order of battle between 
the faubourgs St. Martin and St. Antoine, and a rigorous blockade 
was established, Avhich, after a time, reduced the Parisians to the 
last extremity of privation and suffering. The death of the King- 
cardinal of Bourbon, which occurred at this moment, made little 
change in the situation of affairs, except to enhance, if possible, 
the enthusiastic courage and devotion of the Leaguers in the de- 
fense of Paris. On the 24th of July, the royal army, which now 
numbered at least twenty-five thousand men, made a general as- 
sault on the suburbs on both banks of the Seine ; it was success- 
ful on all points ; and since both the garrison and the population 
were in a deplorable condition of distress from the ravages of fam- 
ine, the fall of the capital now seemed almost inevitable. But in 
these desperate circumstances the Parisians were at length succor- 
ed by the Spaniards under the Duke of Parma, who, by the urgent 



A.D. 1591. SUPPRESSION OF THE SEIZE. 369 

commands of Philip, marched from the Netherlands to their relief. 
The duke reached Meaux with fourteen thousand men on the 2od 
of August ; and Henry, not venturing to await the attack of so dis- 
tinguished a commander in his lines before Paris, raised the siege 
on the 30th, and took post with his whole force in the plain of 
Chelles, intending there to give battle. The Duke of Parma, how- 
ever, Avas too consummate a tactician to be forced to fight against 
his will. Pie took up his position in front of Lagny, and on the 
Gth of September, by an admirable stratagem, carried that place 
by storm under the very eyes of the Royalists, thereby securing 
the command of the River Marne, and the means of sending sup- 
plies to the famished capital. A numerous flotilla of boats was 
instantly dispatched thither, conveying soldiers and abundant pro- 
visions. The king, completely foiled by the superior skill and 
science of his adversary, was now under the necessity of abandon- 
ing the field ; he distributed his troops iii various garrisons, and 
retired, humbled and discouraged, to Compiegne, with only a small 
corps for his personal protection. The Dukes of Mayenne and 
Parma entered Paris on the 18th of September. 

§ 4. Thus the great results which might have been expected from 
the victory of Ivry were wrested from the hands of Henry ; the 
struggle was prolonged, and its final issue became more and more 
uncertain. Universal confusion and anarchy prevailed through- 
out the country. Violent discord broke out between the faction 
of the Seize and the Duke of Mayenne. The Seize arrested Bris- 
son, first president of the Parliament, together with two other 
magistrates, and had them executed at the Chatelet ; they nomin- 
ated a council of ten persons to take measures necessary for the 
safety of the state, and negotiated with Philip of Spain, with the 
view of settling the crown on the Infanta, who was to be united 
in marriage with the young Duke of Guise. INIayenne behaved 
with firmness and vigor, and succeeded in quelling the sedition ; 
he put to death, without trial, four of the most dangerous mem- 
bers of the Seize, and thus destroyed the power of that tyrannical 
body, which never afterward recovered its influence at Paris. 
Mayenne replaced them by functionaries sworn to respect his own 
authority until the legitimate election of a king, and outward or- 
der was at length re-established in the capital ; but the mass of 
the people, thus violently deprived of their favorite leaders, began 
to murmur at the continuance of civil war, chafed under the yoke 
of the League, and showed themselves disposed to a compromise 
which might be the means of restoring peace to their distracted 
country. 

In the mean time the Royalists, with the assistance of seven 
thousand English troops under the Earl of Essex, maintained the 

Q2 



370 HENKY IV. Chai'. XVIII. 

war with unabated spmt, and in November, 1591, invested the 
city of Kouen. The Duke of Parma once more led a Spanish 
army to the succor of the Leaguers ; on his approach Henry left 
Biron to press the siege of Kouen, and marched to meet him in 
Picardy. A sharp skirmish took place at Aumale on the 5th of 
February, 1592, in which the king, rashly charging a column of 
the enemy, was surrounded, wounded, and ran imminent risk of 
being captured or slain. Kouen was ably defended by the govern- 
or, Villars, who successfully assailed Biron in his lines, inflicting 
immense loss; the Spaniards came up on the 21st of April, upon 
which the siege was immediately raised, Henry, having with 
marvelous activity rallied his forces to the amount of twenty thou- 
sand, advanced on the 25th and offered battle to Parma ; but the 
latter, who was suffering from a severe Avound, resolved to elude 
an engagement. During the night of the 9th of May he contrived 
with extraordinary skifl to pass his Avhole army across the Seine, 
with scarcely the loss of a man, and without sacrificing a single 
cannon. Henry, much irritated at being thus a second time out- 
generaled, followed hotly in pursuit; but the duke effected his re- 
treat in safety along the left bank of the river, reached St. Cloud 
in four days, and regained the ft-ontier of the Netherlands at Ar- 
ras. Here this illustrious general soon afterward died, either of 
his wounds, or, as it was freely asserted, from poison. 

§ 5. The various contending parties were now growing alike 
weary of this calamitous, and, at the same time, indecisive strife, 
and anxious desires were expressed on all sides for the meeting of 
the States-General, as the most hopeful expedient for solving the 
questions at issue, and devising a remedy for the intestine mala- 
dies which were destroying France. The States were accordingly 
convoked by Mayenne, and met at the Louvre on the 26th of Jan- 
uary, 1593. Had the Leaguers been unanimous in their views, 
there is no doubt that they might at this juncture have placed 
upon the throne a sovereign of their own choice, and that Henry 
of Bourbon would have been finally excluded. But their councils 
Avere divided and distracted by conflicting intrigues. Mayenne, 
whose influence had been preponderant in the elections, fully hoped 
that the choice of the assembly would fall upon himself; a strong 
section favored the nomination of the young Duke of Guise ; while 
Philip of Spain employed all his energy and skill, backed by the 
vast means of persuasion at his command, to procure a majority 
of votes for his daughter the Infanta. The violent rivalry of these 
parties opened the way for a conference between the Royalists and 
the moderate Leaguers at Suresnes, in which, though nothing de- 
cisive was ai'ranged, Henry allowed it clearly to appear that he 
was prepared to make the sacrifice of his religion to the necessities 
of the state mid tlic miseries of hjs countr}'. 



A.D. 1593. RECANTATION OF HENHY IV. • 371 

§ 6. Henry had now fully made up his mind to the important 
measure — the " perilous leap," as he expressed it to his mistress, 
Gabrielle d'Estrees — which lie saw to be indispensably necessary 
to the peaceable recognition of his rights. A confei'ence took place 
at Mantes on the 23d of July, and after a deliberation of five hours 
the king declared himself perfectly satisfied of the truth of the Cath- 
olic religion. Two days later he proceeded to St. Denis, where 
he was met at the door of the church by the Archbishop of Bour- 
ges, with seven other prelates. Falling on his knees, Henry sol- 
emnly abjured his Calvinistic errors, and made profession of the 
Catholic, Koman, and Apostolic faith, upon which the archbishop 
absolved him provisionally, and restored him to the communion 
of the Church. Tiie procession then entered the minster, where 
high mass and Te Deum were celebrated in the presence of the 
court, the Royalist magistrates and officers, and an immense con- 
course of citizens, who testified their joy by loud and repeated ac- 
clamations. 

The reconciliation of Henry IV. with the Church of Rome, what- 
ever may be thought of it in a moral and religious point of view, 
was unquestionably an act of the highest political wisdom, and de- 
livered France from a state of domestic anarchy which threatened 
it with the loss of independence and utter ruin. It was a mortal 
blow to the League, which now became disorganized, and rapidly 
lost its influence throughout the kingdom. The chief provincial 
towns and the great mass of the population at once declared their 
adhesion to Henry ; a truce was proclaimed, and the civil war was 
generally considered at an end. Great numbers even of the Hu- 
guenots approved, on patriotic grounds, the step which the king 
had taken. Some, however, of tliose who had hitherto been most 
zealously attached to him now disappeared from court and retired 
into private life ; among these was the able and excellent Duples- 
sis-Mornay. 

It was not witliout considerable difficulty that Plenry obtained 
possession of the capital The Duke of Mayenne clung to power 
with stubborn tenacity ; he labored, for merely selfish ends, to pre- 
vent the conclusion of peace ; and by means of the Spanish garri- 
son under the Duke of Feria, and a few violent and impracticable 
members of the League, he still maintained the chief authority in 
Paris. The Count de Brissac — the same who had £io ably second- 
ed the Duke of Guise on the day of the Bai-ricades — was now ap- 
pointed governor of the city, and Mayenne took his departure for 
Soissons, where he hoped to find some auxiliary troops from the 
Low Countries. Meanwhile the king, having celebrated his coro- 
nation in the cathedral of Chartres, once more advanced toward 
Paris ; and Brissac, gained over by the promise of various high 



372 • HENRY IV. Chap. XVIII. 

prefei'ments and a splendid pension, entered into an engagement 
by which the capital was to be surrendei-ed into the hands of the 
Royalists. The governor dismissed, under different pretexts, cei- 
tain regiments which were devoted to the League ; and at four in 
the morning of the 22d of March, 1594, Henry entered Paris by 
the Porte Neuve at the head of five thousand chosen troops, wlio 
rapidly and silently took possession of all the posts commanding 
the city, without encountering any serious opposition. The king 
repaired to Noti'e Dame, where he was received by the clergy ; the 
bells of the cathedral pealed forth a joyous welcome ; and the pop- 
ulace, who at first had looked on in mute surprise, at length yield- 
ed to the impulse of generous emotion, and filled the air with pro- 
longed shouts of " Vive le Eoi !" The Spanish garrison laid down 
their arms, and were permitted to evacuate the city with the hon- 
ors of war. Henry established himself in all security at the Lou- 
vre ; and being now master of Paris, felt himself in reality, what 
he had so long been only in name. King of Fi-ance. The forbeai'- 
ance, generosity, and magnanimity of his behavior in this hour of 
triumph exhibit his character in extremely favorable and engaging 
colors. 

The submission of Paris was soon followed by that of the prov- 
inces. A few months later the young Duke of Guise, urged by 
the advice of his mother, and even of his aunt the Duchess of 
Montpensier, accepted the king's overtures of reconciliation, and 
ceded to him various towns which belonged to his domains, and 
received in return the government of Provence, with a pension of 
24,000 livres. The Duke of Lorraine Avas gained over in like 
manner by a grant of the towns of Toul and Verdun, and a pay- 
ment of nine hundred thousand crowns. Henry is said to have 
expended no less than tliirty millions in thus pui'chasing the al- 
legiance of the great nobles, and recovering the scattered portions 
of his royal heritage. 

^ § 7. The king, in proportion as he became firmly seated on the 
throne, felt the necessity of bringing to a decisive issue his quarrel 
with Philip of Spain, Avhom he justly regarded as the main author 
of all his difficulties and troubles, and of the war which for near 
thirty years had devastated France. The feelings of personal re- 
sentment which urged Henry to this measure were heightened at 
this .moment by a daring attempt made upon his life by a young 
Jesuit named Chastel, who wounded him on the mouth with a 
dagger as he re-entered Paris from Amiens. This crime was im- 
puted, with or without reason, to the instigation of the King of 
Spain ; it furnished ground for an exemplary chastisement of the 
order of the Jesuits, who were sentenced to banishment from the 
kingdom within fifteen days by a decree of the Parliament of 



A.D. 1595-1597. BATTLE OF FONTAINE-FEANCAISE. 273 

Paris. Henry published his formal declaration of war against 
Spain on the 17th of January, 1595, and his troops proceeded to 
invade Franche-Comte, part of the territories of Philip. The 
Eoyalists were here once more opposed by Mayenne, the obstinate 
lieutenant general of the League, who was soon joined by Velasco, 
constable of Castile, with ten thousand men. An encounter took 
place at Fontaine-Fran^aise on the 5th of June, 1595, in which 
the king, with his characteristic impetuosity and rashness, attack- 
ed three thousand of the enemy with a mere handful of cavalry, 
repulsing and routing them. This success enabled Henry to over- 
run the whole of Franche-Comte, and led to negotiations with 
Mayenne, who agreed to acknowledge the king's title as soon as 
he should receive absolution from the Pope. The Spaniards, 
however, compensated for their reverses in Burgundy by several 
brilliant exploits in Picardy. Henry hurried from Lyons to the 
north, but Carabrai had already fallen before he arrived. At this 
moment, when his affairs seemed again to' be taking an unfavor- 
able turn, the king most opportunely received intelligence that 
Pope Clement VIH. had pronounced the long-delayed absolution, 
and acknowledged him in due form as sovereign of France. The 
immediate consequence of this event was the submission and rec- 
onciliation of the Duke of Mayenne, and the final dissolution of 
the League. By a treaty signed at Folembray in January, 1596, 
the king made over to Mayenne three cautionary towns to be held 
for six years, granted a complete amnesty for the past, paid all his 
debts contracted during the war, and conferred on himself and his 
son offices of the highest trust. The Duke of Joyeuse was in- 
cluded in this treaty, and was named Marshal and Governor of 
Languedoc. Almost at the same moment the city of Marseilles 
surrendered to the Duke of Guise ; this produced the pacification 
of Provence; and the haughty Epernon, who had commanded in 
those parts for the League, now made his submission to the royal 
authority. 

§ 8. The war with Spain meanwhile continued, and taxed to the 
utmost the energies and resources of the king. The Archduke 
Albert, governor of the Netherlands, marched rapidly to Calais, 
invested that fortress, which was feebly garrisoned and ill-provis- 
ioned, and compelled it to capitulate on the 24th of April, 1596. 
This disaster was followed by the fall of Ardres, which was 
treacherously surrendered to the Spaniards by the governor ; and 
the archduke then retreated unmolested to the Low Countries, 
for Henry's army was exhausted, and his finances reduced to the 
lowest ebb. Early in the next year the enemy inflicted a still 
more serious blow by the sudden capture of the important city of 
Amiens. Some Spanish soldiers, disguised as peasants, entered 



374 ilENKY IV. CuAF. XVIil. 

one of the gates while the inhabitants were at mass, overpowered 
the guard, and admitted four thousand of their comrades under 
Portocarrero, the governor of Doullens. Henry was in conster- 
nation ; but, quickly recovering liimself, exclaimed, " My friends, 
I have long enough played the King of France, it is high time for 
me to play the King of Navarre!" He instantly set out with 
Biron and five thousand men for Amiens, having committed the 
task of collecting and equipping the main army to Maximilian dt 
Bethune, baron of Rosny, afterwai'd the illustrious Duke of Sully. 
Kosny, by dint of extraordinary exertion, tact, and perseverance, 
assembled twenty-eight thousand men, including a contingent fur^ 
nished by England ; and the siege of Amiens commenced. The 
garrison held out gallantly for five months, during which time 
the archduke made several imsuccessful attempts to succor them ; 
the city was completely blockaded by the French lines ; and the 
Spaniards, despairing of relief, at length capitulated on the 25th 
of September. 

§ 9. The recapture of Amiens was the last operation of the war. 
Philip H. was now sinking under the weight of years and disease. 
He had expended enormous revenues in maintaining a lengthened 
struggle from which he had reaped little or no permanent advant- 
age, and he was anxious to effect a pacification before his domin- 
ions should pass into the hands of his inexperienced successor. 
Henry, whose state of embarrassment was extreme, longed equal- 
ly for an accommodation ; the Pope proffered his mediation to the 
two monarchs, and a congress met at Vervins, in the beginning 
of the year 1598, to arrange the conditions of peace. The only 
parties adverse to an agreement were the United Provinces of 
Holland and the Queen of England. Henry, it seems, had bound 
himself never to make peace with Philip without Elizabeth's con- 
sent ; this engagement he now violated, alleging that repose was 
absolutely required for the interests and security of France. The 
negotiations accordingly proceeded between France and Spain, the 
other powers refusing to take part. Philip sui-rendered Calais, 
Ardres, Doullens, Le Catelet, and all his conquests except the cit- 
adel of Cambrai. Henry restored the county of Charolais ; and 
upon all other points the arrangement conformed to the provisions 
of the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559. Such Avere the terms 
of the definitive peace of Vervins, signed on the 2d of May, 1598. 

A few days earlier (April 15, .1598) Henry IV. had subscribed 
a document even more memorable and important — the Edict of 
Nantes. Since the king's conversion the Huguenots had had 
considerable reason to complain of being treated with injustice, 
ingratitude, and neglect. Appointments and rewards had been 
lavished on their opponents, while they themselves had not only 



A.D. ]599. THE EDICT OF NA^ITES. . 375 

declined greatly in political influence, but had repeatedly suffered 
by tlie partial and rigorous administration of the laws. The de- 
cree now promulgated established, Avith few restrictions, universal 
liberty and equality as to religious profession and worship. All 
towns were permanently secured to the IVotestants which they 
had obtained by the edict of 1577 ;* they wei'e admitted on equal 
terms to all public employments and dignities, military and civil ; 
a separate Chamber to protect their interests, called the "Chara- 
bre tie I'Edit," was instituted in the Parliament of Paris, together 
with similar courts in the provinces ; a complete amnesty was ac- 
corded for the events of the whole course of the war. Lastly, the 
Keformers received license to hold a general representative assem- 
bly once in three years, to deliberate on their affairs, and present 
to the crown reports on their condition and petitions for the re- 
dress of grievances. The Edict of Nantes was bitterly denounced 
and resisted by the clergy and all zealous Catholics, but was ulti- 
mately registered by the Parliament of Paris on the 25th of Feb- 
ruary, 1599. 

These transactions mark an epoch of truly critical interest i.i 
the history of France. The termination of those fearful religious 
wars which had convulsed and desolated the nation during nearly 
forty years — the peaceful establishment of the house of Bourbon 
on the throne — the full recognition of the rights of conscience, guar- 
anteed by legislative enactment and judicial institutions — such are 
the striking events which close the sixteenth century, that period 
of universal agitation and transition. The intelligent student will 
not fail to remark certain salient facts which resulted from this 
great struggle, and which illustrate the peculiar character and 
genius of France. They are such as these : That the religion of 
Kome, notwithstanding all the zeal, ability, and, to a certain ex- 
tent, the success of tlie Keformers, remained the predominant faith 
of the great mass of the people. That the crown survived a re- 
bellion which had menaced it with total ruin, and acquired in- 
creased power and strength by its victory. And, lastly, that after 
such an unprecedented contest, France made little or no progress 
toward the establishment of a free and well-balanced constitution. 
Nothing was done to limit and control permanently the excesses 
of arbitrary power. Tlie States-General, the national i-epresent- 
ative assembly, remained practically useless, and served only to 
display the incapacity of the people for the great duties of self- 
government. 

§ 10. Having thus reconciled himself with his enemies both at 

* These were about seventy-five in number, and included some important 
cities, such as La Kochelle, Montpellicr, Nismcs, Grenoble, Niort, Lectoure, 
Chatellerault, and Castres. 



37G 



HENRY IV. 



Chap. XVIII. 



home and abroad, Henry was enabled to devote Lis attention to 
the interior administration of the kingdom. The social state of 
France was at this period one of deplorable confusion, and, witli 
regard especially to the finances, approached nearly to national 
bankruptcy. The public debt was estimated at upward of three 
hundred millions of francs, equivalent, according to the relative 
value of money, to about thirty-two millions sterling. The gross 
amount of taxes paid by the people was two hundred million francs ; 
but such were the inveterate and monstrous abuses in the sys- 
tem of collection, that not more than thirty millions found tlieir 
way annually into the treasury. The diiferent branches of the 
revenue were leased out to officers called fermiers-genei'aux, who 
thought of nothing but of enriching themselves and their under- 
lings by shameless extortion and malversation. The governors 
of provinces levied arbitrary taxes for their own individual profit, 
an example which was followed by numbers of the great territo- 
rial nobles. Nearly the whole of the royal domain was alienated ; 
and the creditors of the state were sulFered to pay themselves at 
their own pleasure, with no efficient control or investigation of ^-he 
correctness of their claims. Henry was eminently fortunate in 
being able to nominate, for the redress of these gigantic evils, a 
minister so admirably qualified as the great Sully. Sully was 
appointed "surintendant des finances" in 1598 ; and by the stern, 
inflexible probity of his character, combined with remarkable gifts 




:.Iedal of the Duke of Sully. 

of perspicuity, accuracy, and regularity, he succeeded in the course 
of a few yeai'S in effiscting a searching reform in every department 
of the public revenue. He commenced by dismissing the inferior 
farmers of the taxes, and compelling the fermiers-generaux to take 
out new leases; he ascertained in each case the real value of the 
impost, and then renewed the leases at a very considerable ad- 



A.D. 1599. FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF SULLY. 377 

vance upon the former rents, thus nearly doubling at once the in- 
come derived from them. He next issued a decree prohibiting 
all levying of taxes without a royal ordonnance registered by the 
Parliament, a measure which suppressed the entire system of 
private pillage pi-acticed by provincial governors and grandees. 
The Duke of Epernon, who was tlius shorn of a yearly revenue 
of 60,000 livres, attempted to resist ; but Sully was not to be in- 
timidated ; he answered the proud noble with haughtiness equal 
to his own, and Epernon was compelled to submit. A rigorous 
examination was made of all claims and charges on the royal do- 
main, which produced an immense resumption of alienated prop- 
erty, to the amount of near two millions yearly. Numbers of 
useless offices, fictitious titles of nobility, and illegal privileges of 
exemption, were abolished, and the value of the taxes was thus 
augmented to a vast extent. Another of Sully's expedients was 
the imposition of a tax called the jjau/eWe,* by payment of which 
all officers in the departments of justice and finance were enabled 
to secure the hereditary transmission of their appointments. To 
these various methods of increasing the resources of the state this 
gi'eat financier added a strict and persevering economy in the pub- 
lic expenditure. During his administration the debts of the crown 
were paid to the extent of 140 millions of francs, while at the same 
time the amount of taxation was reduced to twenty-six millions, 
with a net produce to the treasury of twenty millions. Besides 
this, Sully accumulated a reserve fund amounting to upward of 
twenty millions of livres. 

Plenry and his minister also gave a vast impulse to the produc- 
tive powers of the country by the encouragement of agriculture 
and every branch of industry and commerce. Vast enterprises 
were undertaken fo** the draining of marshes, the preservation of 
forests, the cultivation of the mulberry, the rearing of cattle, the 
construction of roads, bridges, and navigable canals. The manu- 
factures of silk, cloth, tapestry, and linen were specially protected, 
and carried to a high degree of perfection. Commercial treaties 
were negotiated with England, Holland, Spain, and Turkey. Com- 
munications were also opened with North America, and French 
colonies were now first established in Canada, where Champlain, 
a gentleman of Saintonge, founded in 1608 the city of Quebec. 

§ 11. The king's domestic relations wei'e a source of great dis- 
satisfaction and anxiety. He had been separated for many years 
from his wife, the licentious Marguerite of Valois, whom he had 
never loved, and whose notorious gallantries had caused universal 
scandal. Having no legitimate heir, Henry began to think seri- 
ously of procuring a divorce, and uniting himself in a second mar- 
* From the name of the contractor, Paulet, who first suggested it to Sully. 



378 HENRY IV. Chap. XYIII. 

riage with his mistress, the fascinating Gabi'ielle d'Estrees, by 
whom he had several children. He had created her Duchess of 
Beaufort, and had already taken measures to legitimate one of her 
sons, the Duke of Vendome. Many of the leading nobles of the 
court were said to support strongly the pretensions of Gabriellc 
as the future partner of Henry's throne; she was, however, reso- 
lutely opposed by Sully, and his superior influence with the king 
proved fatal to her. The impatient duchess, finding the minister 
impracticable, was unwise enough to seek to prejudice her lover 
against him, and boldly demanded his disgrace. Meeting with a 
denial, she broke out into passionate reproaches and lamentations, 
and in her rage applied the epithet of " valet" to the illustrious 
Sully. "Madam," said Henry, with great calmness, "let me tell 
you that, were I compelled to choose between you and the duke, 
I could more easily part with ten mistresses like you than with 
one faithful servant like him." This decisive blow to her hopes 
produced a profound and melancholy effect on Gabrielle. She 
was taken dangerously ill in April, 1599, Avas delivered of a still- 
born child, and expired the next day, after many hours of agoniz- 
ing convulsions. The circumstances of her death, and its occur- 
rence at this precise moment, gave rise to suspicions of poison, 
Avhich, however, w^ere never in the slightest degree substantiated. 
jNIarguerite of Valois, who had refused to consent to a divorce in 
order to pave tlie w'ay for tlie advancement of her husband's niis- 
tress, now ceased to combat the king's views ; and tlie court of 
Kome pronounced tlie dissolution of the marriage, tmder the pre- 
text of spiritual affinity, in December, 1599. Meanwhile the 
amorous Henry had conceived a new passion for the beautiful 
Plenriette d'Entragues, who soon succeeded to the position occu- 
pied by the Duchess of Beaufort. She received the title of Mar- 
chioness of Verneuil, together with a written promise of marriage 
in case she should give birth to a son within the year. Sully, to 
whom Henry showed this document, had the courage to tear it in 
pieces ; notwithstanding which, the infatuated monarch immedi- 
ately renewed the engagement. The marchioness, however, in con- 
sequence of a sudden fright, was prematurely confined of a dead 
son, and tlie king's contract became happily void. The king now 
concluded a treaty of marriage with Mary de' Medici, daughter of 
the late Grand-duke of Tuscany, and niece of the reigning sover- 
eign. The marriage was celebrated by proxy on the 5th of Oc- 
tober, ICOO ; the Florentine princess, attended by a splendid train, 
landed at Marseilles in November, and was met by Henry at L)-- 
ons. Their union Avas not happy, the new queen being of a 
liaughty, jealous temper, and little disposed to suffer patiently the 
habitual infidelities of her consort ; but several children were tlia 



A. D. 1600. 



INTRIGUES OF THE DUKE OF SAVOY. 



379 




.Aim];;l of lle-Jiy IV. r.n'.l Mary cle' ^.ledici 



fruit of the marriage, the eldest of whom, born 27th of September, 
1601, became in the sequel Louis XIII. 

§ 12. It was in the course of the year 1600 that, through the 
intrigues of Charles Emmanuel, duke of Savoy, an extensive and 
alarming conspiracy was formed against the king, having for its 
object nothing less than the dismemberment of France into inde- 
pendent feudal states, under the protection, or rather the sover- 
eignty, of the King of Spain. A dispute existed between Henry 
and the Duke of Savoy on account of the retention by the latter 
of the marquisate of Saluces, the cession of which to France had 
been stipulated by the treaty of Vervins. The duke proceeded to 
Paris to negotiate in person with the king, and while there con- 
trived to corrupt the fidelity of many of the superior officers and 
nobles, chiefly former members of the League, whose state of sul- 
len discontent made them ready listeners to his insidious propo- 
sals. The principal of these was the Marshal de Biron, one of 
the most valued of Henry's companions in arms — who had fought 
gallantly by his side at Arques, at Ivry, at Aumale, at Fontaine- 
Fran^aise — but who, altliough loaded with honors and rewards, 
never ceased to make bitter complaints of the ingratitude of his 
royal master. Biron was a man of intolerable presumption, vani- 
ty, and pride ; his self-love had been deeply wounded by a dis- 
paraging speech of Ilenry's, which was maliciously repeated to 
him by the Duke of Savoy ; and on being offered the dukedom of 
Burgundy, together Avith a princess of Savoy in marriage, he was 
easily overcome by the temptation, and became a traitor to his 
prince. 

The Duke of Savoy, though he had agreed to give Henry satis- 
faction, refused at the last moment to surrender the contested ter- 
ritory ; the consequence was a declaration of war ; and the king, 
putting himself at the head of his army, which was commanded 



380 HENRY IV. Chap. XVIII. 

under him by Bii'on and Lesdiguieres, rapidly overran tlie prov- 
ince, and on tlie 21st of August, 1600, entered Cliambery, the cap- 
ital, in triumph. Charles Emmanuel now sued for peace, which 
was granted on his surrendering to France the district of La Bresse, 
between Geneva and Lyons, in exchange for Saluces. On return- 
ing from this campaign in January, ICO 1, the king, who had re- 
ceived some intimation of the disloyal schemes of Biron, question- 
ed him on his relations with the Duke of Savoy, induced him to 
avow his fault, frankly pardoned him, and sent him as embassador 
to England. Here Biron is said to have received a significant ad- 
monition from Queen Elizabeth, who, pointing out to the embas- 
sador the heads of Essex and other traitors on the gateway of the 
Tower, observed'that her brother of France might find similar acts 
of severity necessary to the safety of his throne, and that she trust- 
ed he would not have cause to repent of his present clemency. 
Biron was nevertheless prevailed on to renew his cabals with the 
enemies of France ; and Henry received fi'om a treacherous confi- 
dant of Biron's, named Lafin, ample and convincing proofs of the 
marshal's guilt. Biron now received an invitation, couched in the 
most generous and friendly terms, to repair to the court of Fon- 
tainebleau ; as he could not refuse without openly breaking with 
Henry, he obeyed, and arrived at the palace on the 12th of June. 
The king, who was much attached to him, was fully prepared to 
pardon him a second time, if he would only make a candid and 
complete confession. Biron, however, stood proudly on the de- 
fensive, and said he had come to demand justice against the calum- 
nies of his accusci'S. Irritated by his perverse obstinacy, Henry 
abandoned him to his fate. " Monsieur de Biron," said he, " I 
see that you are resolved to tell me nothing ; perhaps I shall be 
able to obtain farther information from the Count of Auvergne. 
Adieu, Baron de Biron !" The marshal was arrested as he passed 
into the antechamber ; the Count of Auvergne an hour afterward, 
as he Avas attempting to escape. They Avere conducted to the 
Bastile, and the trial of Biron commenced immediately before the 
Parliament of Paris. His correspondence with Lafin being pro- 
duced in evidence, Avhich revealed the entire plot, it was impossi- 
ble for him any longer to maintain his innocence. He attempted 
to shelter himself under the royal pardon accorded to him the year 
before, but the plea was disallowed, and on the 29tli of July the 
ill-fated Biron was unanimously condemned to death. Pie. ad- 
dressed himself in humble and pathetic terms to Henry, recount- 
ing his past services, and entreating mercy by the memory of no 
less than thirty-two woupds received in combating the king's ene- 
mies. The appeal was fruitless? and on the 31st of July, 1G02, 
Biron underwent the execution of his sentence in the court of the 



A.D. 1G09, 1610. PROJECT OF A p:UROPEAN CONFEDERACY. 381 

Bastile, being thus spared the public ignominy of suffering, like 
common criminals, on the Place de Greve. 

§ 13. This terrible example was widely felt both in France and 
in foreign countries. Other plots of the aristocracy against Henry 
were as promptly suppressed, and the internal tranquillity of his 
kingdom was henceforth secure. 

Three years of universal peace succeeded, during which the act- 
ive spii'it of Henry was earnestly engaged in a grand project which 
he had conceived for the humiliation of the house of Austria in 
both its bi'anches, and the rearrangement of the family of European 
states. This scheme consisted in the formation of a confederacy 
or commonwealth of nations, embracing within itself, on a perfect- 
ly equal footing, the three prevailing forms of Christianity — the 
Catholic, the Lutheran, and the Reformed — and guaranteeing the 
free enjoyment of those political institutions which each member 
might prefer. The association was to comprise six hereditary mon- 
archies — France, Spain, Great Britain, Denmark, SvA'cden, and Sa- 
voy, or Northern Italy; six elective monarchies — the empire, Po- 
land, Hungary, Venice, Bohemia, and the Papal States ; and three 
republics — the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Italian Repub- 
lic, containing Genoa, Lucca, and other small provinces. This 
programme would have inflicted an immense loss of territory 
upon Spain by the severance of Lombardy, the Netherlands, and 
Franche-Comte ; while the Austrian Empire would have been at 
least equally curtailed by the surrender of Hungary, Bohemia, and 
the Tyrol. The equilibrium thus established was to be maintain- 
ed by a federal council or diet, the decisions of which were to be 
final in all cases of dispute between the associated states. The 
main drift and aim of Henry's policy Avas the establishment of a 
sufficient counterpoise against tlie overgrown empire of Spain ; 
and it was in the pursuance of this object that Henry found him- 
self, in the last years of his life, on the verge of engaging in a gen- 
eral European war. 

§ 14. The Duke of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg died without heirs 
on the 25th of March, 1609. Llis dominions, though not extens- 
ive, were of importance, as lying between the Netherlands, the 
Rhine, and Germany ; and a host of competitors appeared to dis- 
pute the succession. The emperor contended that, as a male fief 
of the empire, the duchy reverted to him by default ; the Elector 
of Brandenburg and the Count Palatine of Neuburg laid claim to 
it in right of the late duke's sisters ; other pretensions were ad- 
vanced by the royal house of Saxony. Henry IV. supported the 
rights of the princes of Brandenburg and Neuburg ; and by a 
treaty signed at Halle in January, 1610, he engaged to fui-nish 
them with a contingent of ten thousand men. He thus placed 



382 HENRY IV. Chap. XVUI. 

himself in direct antagonism to the house of Austria ; and the 
war, if it had broken out in earnest, must have assumed the shape 
of a struggle for predominance between France and the empire. 

Henry's military preparations were on a vast scale. One army, 
of thirty thousand men, was ready to march under his own orders 
against Jnliers ; a second, fourteen thousand strong, was to com- 
bine with the Duke of Savoy in an attack on the Milanese ; while 
a third, of twenty-five thousand, was marshaled on the Pyrentean 
frontier, and was destined to invade Spain. At this moment, while 
Europe was intently watching his mighty armaments, and await- 
ing in breathless suspense the outbreak of the tempest, Henry, 
whose advancing years had by no means taught him to bridle his 
licentious passions, became desperately enamored of Charlotte de 
Montmorency, daugliter of the Constable, a young lady of exqui- 
site beauty, who had just been married to Henry, prince of Conde. 
This new caprice led the king into the most outrageous and ridic- 
ulous extravagances. His unprincipled pursuit of the youthful 
])rincess awakened the jealousy of her husband, who carried her 
(>!f first to Chantilly, then to a chateau in Picardy ; and at last, as 
Henry still persevered, Cond<j and his wife took refuge at the vice- 
regal court of Brussels. This step transported the king beyond 
all bounds of decency ; he summoned Conde, on his allegiance, to 
return to France, and admonished the Archduke Albert -not to 
harbor the fugitives, upon pain of provoking a declaration of war. 
The archduke, acting under orders from Madrid, declined to order 
the prince and princess to quit the Netherlands ; and as Henry 
from that time forwai'd redoubled his warlike demonstrations, his 
proceedings were freely attributed by his enemies to the most dis- 
graceful motives. At the same time, the Jesuits and other violent 
partisans of Rome labored to excite the popular enmity against the 
king on account of his coalition Avith the German Protestants ; a 
plot, they asserted, was on foot for dethroning the Pope, overturn-, 
ing the Catholic religion, and making the Huguenots paramount 
in France. 

§ 15. The army of the north, with whom Henry proposed to in- 
vade Belgium, was ordered to concentrate at Chalons by the end 
of April, 1610. Before leaving Paris to take the command the 
king appointed Mary de' Medici regent in his absence, with a coun- 
cil of fifteen of the chief officers of state. The queen, who had 
never been crowned since her marriage, earnestly requested tliat 
this ceremony might be performed before the king's departure, and 
Henry altered his arrangements in order to gratify her. From 
this moment he seems to have been seized with a sombre presenti- 
ment of some impending catastrophe, and repeatedly expressed 
himself oonvincod tliat his days would bo cut short before the 



A.D. 1610. Mi:h-£)EK OF HENRY IV.— HIS CHARACTEH. 383 

time appointed for his quitting the capital. The coronation of 
the queen was celebrated with all due solemnity in the abbey 
church of St. Denis on the 13th of May ; the 19th was the day 
fixed for the king's joining the army. In the afternoon of the 14tl» 
Henry proceeded in his coach to the arsenal, to pay a visit to Sul- 
ly, who was slightly indisposed ; he was attended by the Duke of 
Epernon and five other courtiers, with an escort of a few gentle- 
men on horseback. In the Rue de la Ferroniere the progress of 
the royal carriage was impeded by some carts which blocked the 
narrow thoroughfare ; and during the momentary confusion thus 
caused, a man named Frangois Kavaillac, mounting upon the wheel 
of the carriage, aimed with a knife a deadly blow at the king's 
side. Henry raised his arm, exclaiming, '' I am wounded !" Upon 
which the determined assassin struck a second time, and pene- 
trated the king's heart. He instantly expired. 

Thus perished Henry the Fourth, in the fifty-eighth year of his 
age ; and with him vanished his elaborate and magnificent proj- 
ects, whether of militaiy enterprise or of political and social reor- 
ganization. His death was opportune for the house of Austria, 
which was thus saved from a war which must have weakened it 
by calamitous reverses, and might even have destroyed its power. 
But for France it was a grave misfortune, since society, which had 
just begun to recover from the desolations of the religious wars, 
was now again thrown back into confusion, strife, and misery. 
The memory of this great sovereign has always been pre-eminent- 
ly popular with the French nation, both on account of his many 
generous, attractive, and noble qualities, and on account of the 
great substantial benefits which his wise and prosperous rule con- 
ferred upon the country. But these peculiar recommendations 
have perhaps caused his general character to be somewhat over- 
rated. Henry was formed to be the idol of a multitude ; and 
while his brilliant gifts and accomplishments inspired admiration 
and secured him warm personal regard, they naturally cast into 
the shade those lamentable weaknesses, follies, and vices by which 
his name is tarnished. 

The mystery of Henry's assassination has never been unravel- 
ed- The crime was variously imputed to the machinations of the 
courts of Vienna and Madrid, to the malignant hatred of the Jes- 
uits, to the ti-aitorous ambition of the Duke of Epernon, to the 
petty jealousies of court intrigue. The most probable opinion is 
that llavaillac had no accomplices. He appears to have been, 
like Jacques Clement, a half-insane fanatic, possessed with a vague 
notion that he was the predestined instrument of the will of Heav- 
en. He made no revelations under the torture, and was executed 
on the 27th of May, amid the execrations of the populace, with 



384 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



CnAi-. XVIII. 



every refinement of cruelty which the most barbarous invention 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



AUTHOUITIES FOR THE EEIGN OF 
HENKY IV. 

The Menioires^ or Econovdes Royalea, of 
the great Duke of Sullii^ form the principal 
authority for the history of tliis reign. This 
celehrated work commences with the year 
15T0, and closes with the retii-ement of the 
author from public life in 1611. The best 
edition is tliat of Paris, C vols. Svo, IS 2. 



An excellent biography of Henry IV. (fl"/.s- 
toiie de Uenii le Giand) was composed by 
command of Louis XIV., and published in 
1662, by Hardouin de Beaumont de J'eiefixe, 
archbishop of Paris. It has been translated 
into English and other languages. 

The HisMre dxi Rcgne de Henri IV., hy 
M. Poj'won, is a recently-publislied work of 
considerable reputation and value. 




Cardinal Richelieu. (Fruni a, luedul in the British Museum.) 



CHAPTER XIX_ 

LOUIS xui. A.D. 1610-1643. 

§ I. Accession of Louis XIII. ; Kegency of Mary de' Medici; the new Fa- 
vorites; Retirement of Sully. § 2. The States-General of 1614; Mar- 
riage of the King to Anne of Austria; Arrest of the Prince of Conde ; Rise 
of Richelieu. § 3. Rise of De Luynes ; Murder of the Marshal D'Ancre ; 
Execution of Leonora Galigai ; Incapacity of De Luynes ; Revolt of the 
Party of the Queen-mother ; Reconciliation effected by Richelieu. § 4. 
Revolt of the Protestants of Beam ; Renewal of Civil War in Poitou and 
Languedoc ; Death of De Luynes. § 5. Suppression of the Huguenot 
Revolt; Richelieu made Cardinal and Minister. § 6. Hostilities with 
Spain and the Empire ; Huguenot Insurrection. § 7. Conspiracy against 

- Richelieu. § 8. Siege of La Rochellc ; complete Submission of the Prot- 
estants. § 9. War in Piedmont ; Capture of Pignerol ; Reduction of Sa- 
voy. § 10. Intrigues against Richelieu ; the Day of Dupes ; Execution 
of Marillac ; Exile of Mary de' Medici. § 11. Revolt of Gaston of Or- 
leans and Marshal Montmorency ; Trial and Execution of Montmorency. 
§ 12. France leagues with the Protestants, and engages in the Thirty 
Years' War; the Imperialists invade Picardy. § 13. Capture ofBrisach; 
Father Joseph. § 14. Private Life of Louis XIII. ; Reconciliation with 
Anne of Austria; Birth of Louis XIV. § 15. Alsace, Artois, and Rous- 
sillon annexed to France. § 16. Revolt of the Count of Soissons; Con- 
spiracy of Cinq-Mars ; Richelieu at Narbonne ; Siege of Perpignan ; Ex- 
ecution of Cinq-Mars and De Thou. § 17. Death of Richelieu; Death 
of Louis XIII. 

§ 1. Measures were instantly taken, under the direction of 
Sully and Epernon, for placing the regency in the hands of Mary 
de' Medici during the minority of the new king, Louis XIII., who 
at this time was scarcely nine years of age. In order to support 
this proceeding by legal sanction, the appointment was made by a 

K 



386 LOUIS XIII. Chap. XIX. 

decree of the Parliament of Paris, wlio, on the very evening of 
Henry's murder, sent a deputation to notify it to the queen. The 
Parliament evidently overstepped its authority ; but the usurpa- 
tion was justified by the urgent necessity of the case. 

The regent made no immediate changes in the administration. 
The late king's ministers retained their offices; Sully, especially, 
was received at court with every mark of distinguished confidence 
and honor. It seemed at first as if the general policy of Henry 
was to be strictly followed -out ; a royal proclamation appeared, 
confirming and renewing, the Edict of Nantes ; and, in order to 
keep faith with the new allies of France, ten thousand men wem 
sent to join the German princes at the siege of Juliers. 

It was not long, however, before matters assumed a very differ- 
ent aspect. The government of a woman and a foreigner, in the 
name of a helpless child, could not maintain the lofty tone or ex- 
ercise the vigorous control of a sovereign like Plenry the Great. 
The queen was a person of weak character and narrow understand- 
ing, and^ as a natural consequence, was entirely ruled by confi- 
dants and favorites, the chief of whom were an obscure Florentine 
adventurer named Concino Concini, and his wife Leonora Galigai, 
a foster-sister of Mary de' Medici, and her first lady of the bed- 
chamber. These two personages had acquired an unbounded em- 
pire over the regent's mind and councils. Concini was rapidly 
promoted to the highest stations ; became Marquis D'Ancre, gov- 
ernor of Amiens, Peronne, and Dieppe, and was ultimately created 
Marshal of France. An interior council, or secret cabinet, was 
now formed, including, besides Concini, the Jesuit Cotton, the 
Pope's nuncio, and the Spanish embassador. Its policy was pre- 
cisely the reverse of that pursued by Henry IV., and tended to 
establish an intimate friendship and alliance between France and 
both branches of the house of Austria. A project was soon an- 
nounced for a double connection between the two royal houses by 
the marriage of Louis XIII. to the Infanta Anne of Austria, while 
his eldest sister, the Princess Elizabeth, was to be united to Phil- 
ip, prince of the Asturias. It was impossible for Sully to enter 
cordially into views so diametrically opposed to those of his great 
master; he remonstrated with the regent, but, as she persisted, he 
had no alternative but to retire from office. In January, 1611, 
this truly patriotic statesman resigned his posts of " Superintend- 
ent of the Finances" and governor of the Bastile, retaining only 
his government of Poitou. He never afterward took any active 
part in public affairs, though he was frequently consulted by Mary 
de' Medici during the subsequent troubles and disorders. Sully 
survived till the year 1641, when he died, at the age of eighty-two, 
at his chateau of Villebon. 



A.D. 1G14. 



MEETING OE THE STATEkS-GENEKAL. 



387 



§ 2. Louis XIII. attained his majority on the 27th of Septem- 
ber, 1614, and on the following day, holding a bed of justice, as- 
sumed nominally the government of the kingdom. The States- 
General commenced their session at Paris on the 14th of Octob<?r. 




Meetinc; of the Sfxte=-Geriei il m the Snllc Bonrbnn at Pari^, Octobei, 1614 
(I lum 1 piint ot the time ) 
1. Louis XIII. 2. Mai y de' Medici. 3. Monfcieui. 4. The Chancellor. 5. Le Giand Ma - 
tre. 6. Princes of tlie Blood. 7. Dukes, Cardinals. 8. Secretaries of State. 9. Orator of 
the Clergy. 10. Orator of the Noblesse. 11. Orator of the Tiers Etat. 12.- Master of the 
Ceremonies. 13. Deputies of the Clergy : opposite, Deputies of the Noblesse. 14. Deputies 
of the Tiers Etat. 



388 . LOUIS XIII. Chap. XIX. 

The assembly was unusually numerous, including four hundred 
and sixty-four deputies for tlie thi-ee orders. Among the repre- 
sentatives of the clergy was one who bore a name destined ere 
long to acquire a world-wide celebrity ; this was Armand Duples- 
sis de Richelieu, at that time Bishop of Lugon. 

The proceedings of the States on this occasion reflected faith- 
fully the unsettled and divided feelings of the nation. The three 
orders wasted their time in bitter disputes and recrimination. 
Many important subjects were discussed, such as the abolition of 
the sale of public offices, the diminution of pensions, financial re- 
form, the publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent ; but 
the deputies found it impossible to act cordially together, and the 
government, profiting by their dissensions, put them off with vague, 
insincere, and fruitless promises. The demands of the nobility 
and the clergy were summed up in an able and eloquent hai'angue 
by the Bishop of Lu(;on, after which the assembly was abruptly 
dissolved on the 24tli of March, 1G15. The spectacle of incapa- 
city thus given by tlie national Legislature was not lost either 
upon the crown or on the country at large ; and the result was 
remarkable. The States-General were not again convoked until 
their ever-memorable meeting in 1789— an interval of one hun- 
dred and seventy-four years. 

The marriage of the young king with Anne of Austria was sol- 
emnized toward the end of the year (1615). The Prince of Conde 
had violently opposed this marriage, and had twice taken up arms 
to break off" the connection with Austria and Spain, and to renew 
the all'ances formed by Henry IV. lie was strongly supported 
by the Parliament, who refused to register the royal decrees di- 
rected against him and his party. The court twice bought off 
his opposition by lavish grants to liim and his friends, and the 
powerful favorite, the Marshal D'Ancre, was compelled to surren- 
der some of his appointments. The influence of Conde now be- 
came almost supreme. He placed himself in violent opposition to 
the queen-mother and Marshal D'Ancre ; and the favorite, whose 
life seems to have been scarcely safe at Paris, found it necessary 
to escape into Normandy. The prince is said to have meditated 
the forcible removal of Mary de' Medici from pS'wer ; but at this 
juncture he met with a powerful antagonist in the person of 
Eichslieu, whose fortunes had been rapidly rising ever since the 
meeting of the States-General. He had obtained a seat in the 
Council of State, where he supported with great resolution and 
ability the interests of the queen-mother. It was by Richelieu's 
advice that the court now resolved on the bold step of arresting 
the Prince of Conde. On the 31st of August, 1616, as he was 
leavino: the council-chamber, Conde's sword was demanded by the 



A.D. 1G16, 1G17. MURDER OF MARSHAL D'ANCKE. 389 

Marquis de Themines, and he was immediately conducted to the 
Bastile. The prince betrayed great pusillanimity, and offered to 
make a full revelation of the secret projects of his party. The 
queen replied that she Avas already sufficiently well-informed of 
them. Bouillon and the other princes saved themselves by timely 
night. Their partisans at Paris attempted to get up a popular 
commotion, and the multitude furiously attacked the splendid man- 
sion of Marshal D' Ancre, which was completely plundered and de- 
stroyed. Order, however, .was soon restored. Concini re-enter- 
ed ^he capital in triumph — behaved with even more than his ac- 
customed insolent presumption — and appeared for a time to be 
more powerful than ever. Eichelieu was immediately rewaixled 
for his good services to the court in this emergency ; on the 30th 
of November, 1616, he was advanced to the office of secretary of 
state. 

§ 3. Louis XIII. Avas now sixteen years of age, and began to 
thirst for independence as a man and a sovereign. As a first step 
toward emancipating himself from the control of his mother, he 
had chosen for his confidential companion the Sieur de Luynes, a 
young man of great ambition, addi-ess, and insinuating manners, 
who had first recommended himself to the king by his skill in fal- 
conry and other field-sports. De Luynes, in order to advance his 
own fortunes, labored incessantly to prejudice Louis against Mar- 
shal D' Ancre and his wife. He persuaded the king that as long 
as Concini remained in favor he would never be able to exercise 
real and supreme authority ; and even hinted that a design was 
entertained of excluding him permanently from ajl share in t]^e 
government. Louis, terrified and indignant, easily gave his con- 
sent to a proposition of De Luynes for removing the obnoxious 
favorite by violence. Communications were made to De Vitry, 
captain of the royal guard ; and it was arranged that Concini 
should be immediately arrested, and, if he offered any resistance, 
assassinated on the spot. Richelieu, it is said, received an inti- 
mation of the project, but from motives of personal ambition re- 
frained from taking any step to hinder its execution. On the 
morning of the 24th of April, 1617, as the marshal was entering 
the court of the Louvre, he was arrested by De Vitry, who re- 
quired him to suri-ender his sword. Concini uttered an excla- 
mation and half drew his Aveapon from the scabbard. He Avas 
instantly shot dead by several of the guard, Avho closely folloAved 
their commandei". " It is by the king's command !" cried De 
Vitry, and Louis, appearing the next moment at a Avindow of the 
palace, thanked him for the deed, and exurtingiy declared that he 
now felt himself really a king. A guard Avas stationed at the 
apartment of the queen-mother, Avho in the course of a i'ew da3-s 



390 LOUIS Xlir. ^ CiiAp. XIX. 

was exiled to Blois. The fall of the odious favorite was hailed 
with extravagant delight by the citizens of Paris ; the frantic pop- 
ulace disinterred his corpse, dragged it through the streets, tore it 
in pieces, and burnt it to ashes. The former ministers were now 
recalled, and Eichelieu, involved in the disgrace of his patron, 
Mary de' Medici, was deprived of office and dismissed to his bish- 
opric of Lu9on. 

De Luynes immediately assumed the chief direction of affairs ; 
a post, however, for which he was no better fitted than his prede- 
cessor Concini. His first act was to bring the unfortunate Mar- 
chioness D'Ancre to trial for complicity in the alleged treasons of 
her husband ; but, as this charge could not be substantiated, she 
was next accused of having amassed wealth by unlawful means, 
and of having practiced the arts of sorcery and magic in order to 
acquire preternatural ascendency over the queen-mother. To the 
first article the prisoner replied that her wealth had been legiti- 
mately obtained by the favor and bounty of the queen ; to the sec- 
ond, that the only spells she had used lay in the natural superior- 
ity exercised by a strong character over a feeble one. She was 
nevertheless sentenced to sufi^er as a traitor, and was executed on 
the Place de Greve, displaying in her last moments a courageous 
calmness and resignation which excited general sympathy. The 
entire property, both of Concini and his wife, was confiscated, and 
quickly found its ^vay into the hands of the avaricious De Luynes. 

The main object of the new minister was to aggrandize himself 
and his family by the accumulation of riches, honors, and posts 
oj authority. , He soon became a duke and peer of France, with 
the government of the Isle de France and Picardy, and contracted 
a splendid marriage with the daughter of the Duke of Montbazon. 
Two of his brothers were created dukes. Before he had been a 
year in power De Luynes "became universally unpopular; discon- 
tent began again to manifest itself; and the offended nobles flock- 
ed to the court of Mary de' Medici at Blois, which soon became 
the centre of rebellious intrigue. The Dukes of Guise, Bouillon, 
and Mayenne assured the queen of their devoted support ; and at 
length,- on the night of the 2 2d of February, 1619, Mary was lib- 
erated from the chateau of Blois by the Duke of Epernon, who 
conducted her in safety to Angouleme. 

Louis and his favorite were greatly ahxrmed. The king was 
for taking up arms to chastise the audacity of Epernon ; but De 
Luynes, conscious of incapacity, and afraid of being suddenly pre- 
cipitated from power, persuaded him to seek an accommodation 
Avith his mother before the chiefs of her party should break out 
into open revolt. The negotiation was intrusted to Richelieu, who 
was recalled for this purpose from his exile at Avignon. P>y his 



A.D. 1G21- REVOLT IN BEARN. 39X 

agency an arrangement was concluded, by which the queen-moth- 
er was set at liberty, and permitted to select at pleasure her future 
place of residence ; her revenues were restored, and she received 
the government of Anjou. An amnesty was proclaimed in favor 
of Epernon and his folloAvers, and an interview took place shortly 
afterward between Louis and his mother at Tours, which to all 
appearance sealed their reconciliation. This event was followed 
by the liberation of the Prince of Conde, who had been a prison- 
ei'j first ill the Bastile, afterward at Vincennes, for upward of three 
years. The prince joined himself to the party of the minister, who 
hoped, by means of his influence and reputation, to hold in check 
the adherents of the queen-mother. 

§ 4. The little Protestant province of Beam was at this time in 
a state of turbulent agitation in consequence of a royal edict an- 
nouncing its annexation to the crown, together with the complete 
re-establishment of the Catholic religion. This decree was stout- 
ly resisted, and Louis, having now a powerful army in the field, 
determined to take extreme measures for enforcing it. He march- 
ed in person to Pau, caused the churches and ecclesiastical prop- 
erty to be restored to the Catholic bishops and clergy, strongly 
garrisoned the fortresses, and reduced the province to apparent 
obedience. But the outraged Huguenots soon recovered from 
their surprise, and early in 1621 held a general assembly of their 
party at La Rochelle, at which it was resolved, in the midst of in- 
tense excitement, once more to appeal to arms in defense of their 
cause against the crown. Every thing betokened a renewal of 
the calamitous civil strife of the preceding reigns. Louis took the 
field in April, 1621, having first, to the astonishment and disgust 
of tlie whole kingdom, delivered the Constable's sword to the fa- 
vorite De Luynes, who was totally ignorant of* the art of war. 
The royal army, after receiving the submission of the towns of 
Poitou, laid siege in August to the town of Montauban, the prin- 
cipal strong-hold of the Huguenots in Languedoc ; but such was 
the incapacity betrayed by the Constable in conducting the opera- 
tions, that by the beginning of November no progress whatever 
liad been made toward reducing the fortress. The Duke of Rohan 
advanced to its relief, and after three months of fruitless labor, 
during which he had sacrificed no less than eight thousand men, 
Louis was. compelled ignominiously to raise the siege. This dis- 
graceful failure called forth a general outcry of indignation against 
tlie favorite. The king himself began to weary of him, and symp- 
toms soon occurred of his declining favor. He was cari'ied off by 
a malignant fever, which raged in the camp, on the 14th of De- 
cember, 1G21. The king was little aflfected by his loss, and he 
was regTcttcd by none. His death, however, Mas an event of con- 



392 LOUIS XIII. Chap. XIX. 

siderable importance, as Louis was too feeble a character to govern 
independently, and it was difficult to conjecture, among the per- 
sonages who were at that time conspicuous at court, upon whom 
his next choice of a confidential minister would fall. 

§ 5. The question remained for some time undecided, and vari- 
ous intrigues were set on foot among the eager competitors for 
power, the main contest lying between the Prince of Conde and 
the queen-mother, supported by her faithful ally Richelieu. Mean- 
while the war with the Huguenots continued to cause great anx- 
iety. Hostilities continued in 1622 uniformly to the advantage 
of the royal arms. The Huguenots suffered a severe loss in the 
defection of the veteran Marshal Lesdiguieres, who, on his conver- 
sion to Catholicism, was rewarded by the king with the appoint- 
ment of Constable of France. The revolt was almost entirely put 
down in Guienne and Languedoc, and the campaign concluded 
with the successful siege of Montpellier, where peace was signed 
on the 19tli of October. By the peace of Montpellier the Hugue- 
nots were deprived of all the fortified towns guaranteed to them 
by former treaties, with the exception of La Rochelle and Mont- 
auban. 

Notwithstanding these military successes the government of 
Louis had now fallen into a lamentable state of weakness and 
disorder. The main object of his chief advisers, all men of in- 
ferior talent, was to exclude from the council the ambitious Riche- 
lieu, of whose commanding genius they stood in jealous awe. The 
king himself regarded him with personal dislike, and from this 
cause, as' well as from perverse opposition to his mother, long re- 
fused to readmit him to any share of power. The queen-mother, 
however, compelled Louis to fulfill the promise which he made to 
Richelieu of procuring for him a cardinal's hat ; and Richelieu 
was accordingly elevated to the conclave on the 5 th of Septem- 
ber, 1622. 

The ambition of the house of Austria, both in the Imperial and 
Spanish branch, was again causing disquietude in France. Fre- 
quent changes were made in the ministry, but the situation of af- 
fairs continued to grow more and more unsatisfactory until, through 
the urgent importunity of the queen-mother, the king was reluct- 
antly prevailed upon to summon the Cardinal de Richelieu to his 
councils. This memorable event, so propitious to the fortunes of 
France, took place on the 26th of April, 1624. 

§ 6. Although it was by no means intended to bestow on Riche- 
lieu the first place in the administration, he had not been six months 
in office before his supremacy Avas fully understood and recognized 
by the king, the Council, the court, and the whole nation, livery 
department of the public service soon felt the irresistible energy 



A.D. 1624,1625. WAR WITH SPAIN AND THE EMPIRE. 393 

of his character, and his extraordinary capacity for the great task 
of government. 

He had long formed and matured his convictions as to the true 
policy and interests of France ; and having propounded them to 
the king with admirable distinctness, he prepared to carry them 
out with that immovable steadiness of purpose which ever marks 
a genius of the first order. " I may say with truth," such are his 
own words to Louis in his "Testament Politique," "that at the 
time of my entrance upon office the Huguenots divided the power 
of the state with your majesty; that the great nobles conducted 
themselves as if they were not your subjects, and the governors 
of provinces as if they were independent sovereigns in their own 
dominions. Foreign alliances were depreciated and misunder- 
stood ; private interests preferred to those of the state ; and, in a 
word, the majesty of the crown was degraded to such a depth of 
abasement that it was scarcely to be recognized at all." Accord- 
ingly, the main objects proposed by this great statesman — objects 
which he pursued with undeviating perseverance throughout his 
public life — were the annihilation of the Huguenots as a political 
party, the complete subjugation of the aristocracy to the royal 
authority, and the restoration of France to her predominant in- 
fluence in Europe by the systematic humiliation of the house of 
Austria. 

The first measures of Richelieu were directed against Spain and 
the empire. In oi'der to repress their encroachments, he projected 
a grand alliance between France and the Protestant powers of the 
north ; and with this view he negotiated a treaty of marriage be- 
tween Charles, prince of Wales, the heir to the throne of England, 
and the Princess Henrietta Maria, one of the sisters of Louis XIH. 
A match previously arranged between Charles and a Spanish in- 
fanta was abruptly broken off, and in May, 1625, the Duke' of 
Buckingham arrived at Paris for the purpose of conducting the 
affianced Queen of England to London. About the same time 
the cardinal opened friendly communications with the courts of 
Sweden, Denmark, and the United States of Holland ; and the 
celebi'ated Count Mansfeld was permitted to collect auxiliary 
troops in France, and raised an ample subsidy toward the ex- 
penses of the war. The cardinal sent an army into the Valteline, 
which the Spaniards and Austrians had wrested from the Grisons, 
and which was important as forming a communication between 
the Tyrol and Northern Italy. The French commander in the 
course of a few weeks expelled the Austrian garrisons and took 
complete possession of all the fortresses. The Pope, to whose ar- 
bitration the dispute had been referred, remonstrated with useless 
vehemence. Eichelieu gave him plainly to understand that, al- 

R 2 



394 LOUIS XIII. GiiAF.XIX. 

though a prince of the Church, his first object was to maintain 
the dignity and advance the interests of France. 

The plans of Richelieu were suddenly disarranged by a fresh 
rising of the Huguenots, under the Dukes of Rohan and Soubise, 
during the summer of 1625. The projected operations against 
Austria were now postponed ; and the royal fleet, commanded by 
the Duke of Montmorency, and assisted by squadrons furnished by 
England and the Dutch republic, was dispatched against the re- 
bellious Rochellois. A great naval battle was fought oflt" the coast 
on the 15th of September, resulting in the decisive defeat of the 
insurgents. Soubise with difficulty made his escape to England 
with the shattered remains of his fleet. La Rochelle lay at the 
king's mercy; but it was not the purpose of Richelieu at this 
time to push the Huguenots to extremities. In the midst of 
these vigorous enterprises at home and abroad, he had discovered 
the existence of a formidable conspiracy against his administra- 
tion and his life ; and in order that h^ might devote himself to its 
suppression, it was necessary that hostilities should cease or be 
adjourned for a time. Richelieu made peace with the Rochellois 
in February, 1626 ; and a month later a treaty was signed with 
Spain upon the single stipulation that the Valteline should be re- 
placed under the sovereignty of the Grisons. The cardinal's leni- 
ency to the heretics on this occasion, together with the recent Prot- 
estant alliances, exposed him to the bitter raillery and invective of 
the Catholic world. 

§ 7. The first plot formed against Richelieu was extremely com- 
plicated and widely ramified. Gaston, duke of Anjou, the king's 
only brother and presumptive heir, entered into a design for assas- 
sinating the cardinal at his country house. The plot was joined 
by many of the highest nobles, and the young queen was privy to 
it. Richelieu, however, suppressed it with terrible and fatal ener- 
gy. Several of the leading conspirators were seized. The Duke 
of Anjou, whose character was a despicable compound of weak- 
ness, cowardice, and baseness, hastened to make a full confession 
of his guilt, beti-ayed his accomplices, and threw himself upon the 
king's mercy. His treachery was rewarded with the rich appan- 
age of the duchy of Orleans, together with an enormous revenue. 
Richelieu wreaked his vengeance by the execution or banishment 
of the other conspirators. The young queen was summoned be- 
fore the council of state, reprimanded for her connection Avith the 
late treasonable project, and openly reproached by the king for 
having, in the prospect of his own death, contemplated a marriage 
with his brother. The queen indignantly replied that she would 
not have been sufficiently a gainer by the exchange. Anne con- 
tinued for many years an object of suspicion to her husband, while 



A.D. 1627. SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE. 395 

between her and the cardinal there reigned from this moment a 
bitter and irreconcilable animosity. 

The triumph of Richelieu over this conspiracy established his 
supremacy as minister. In the following year he gave another 
severe lesson to the haughty nobles by causing the Counts de 
Bouteville and Des Chapelles to be publicly executed for having 
fought a desperate duel on the Place Royale at Paris. 

§ 8. A misunderstanding arose in 1627 between the courts of 
France and England, chiefly from, the personal antipathy of the 
Duke of Buckingham to Richelieu, who had exposed and thwart- 
ed his ridiculous passion for the young queen, Anne of Austria. 
Buckingham promised the support of England to the rebellious 
Huguenots of La Rochelle, and formed an alliance with the Dukes 
of Savoy and Lorraine, who were arming against France. An 
English fleet of a hundred sail, conveying a large army under 
Buckingham, appeared off La Rochelle in July. The troops dis- 
embarked on the Isle de Rhe and besieged the fortress of St. Mar- 
tin. Richelieu displayed on this occasion an almost superhuman 
activity and vigor. He made prodigious preparations, both mil- 
itary and naval, and then repaired to La Rochelle in company 
with the king in the month of October. The garrison of St. Mar- 
tin was now successfully re-enforced by a body of 6000 men, and 
Buckingham, decisively repulsed in his final assault on the 6th of 
November, abandoned the siege and set sail for England. 

The siege of La Rochelle — which was thus left to defend itself 
single-handed against the entire strength of the French crown — 
was one of the most extraordinary and brilliant achievements of 
Cardinal Richelieu. The Huguenot capital contained at this 
time about 30,000 inhabitants, every man of whom was fully de- 
termined to resist to the last extremity. The mayor, Guiton, a 
man of iron resolution and courage, had threatened to poniard the 
first citizen who should venture to speak of surrender. It was 
evident to Richelieu that La Rochelle was impregnable so long as 
it could be revictualed and re-enforced from England by sea. He 
therefore constructed, at a sufficient distance from the town to be 
beyond the reach of its cannon, a gigantic dike of stone, more than 
half a mile in length, across the mouth of the harbor, so as to cut 
off all possibility of relief by a foreign fleet. The city was strict- 
ly blockaded on the land side by lines of clrcumvallation and an 
army of 25,000 men ; and it was plain that its ultimate reduction 
was simply a question of time. 

The cardinal, notwithstanding his exalted rank and ecclesias- 
tical character, undertook personally the direction of the opera- 
tions of the siege, and displayed in the course of it all the essen- 
tial qualities of a great military commander. Two powerful fleets 



396 LOUIS XIII. Chap. XIX 

arrived in succession from England to succor the beleaguered city, 
and each in turn desperately attacked the dike, but without mak- 
ing any impi'ession upon that stupendous barrier. The English, 
baffled and discouraged, retreated to their own shores ; and the 
fate of La Rochelle was sealed. Its heroic defense was protract- 
ed for fifteen months, and it was not till half the population had 
perished from hunger, and scarcely a hundred and fifty soldiers of 
the garrison remained alive, that the survivors consented to capit- 
ulate on the 28th of October, 1628. The only terms they could 
obtain were an amnesty for past offenses, and the exercise of their 
religion in places to be hereafter specified. The king and his min- 
ister entered the city in triumph on the first of November, and 
from this moment may be dated the final ruin of the Huguenot 
cause in France. La Rochelle forfeited its municipal franchises, 
its mayoralty was suppressed, its fortifications razed, the Catholic 
religion re-established. The town has never since recovered its 
importance. This memorable siege is said to have cost the state 
no less a sum than forty millions of francs. 

The Duke of Rohan, meanwhile, maintained an obstinate con- 
flict with the royal forces in Languedoc. Early in the following 
year (1629) the king entered that province at the head of 50,000 
men, and after a series of severe encounters at length compelled 
the insurgents to lay down their arms. Llostilities concluded 
with the capture of Frivas and Alais ; after which a peace was 
signed (June 27, 1629), which left the Frotestants in a state of 
abject prostration, and quite incapable of any farther organized 
and sustained opposition to the crown. 

§ 9. While this struggle with the Huguenots was at its height, 
the inveterate malice of the court of Spain endeavored to embar- 
rass France by an artful diversion on the side of Italy. A French 
prince, the Duke of Nevers, had just succeeded to the duchy of 
Mantua and the marquisate of Montferrat. The Spaniards insti- 
gated the Duke of Guastalla to contest his rights ; the emperor 
interfered and sequestered the disputed territory, and a Spanish 
army invaded Montferrat and besieged Casale, the capital. Such 
was the paramount importance attached by Richelieu to his prin- 
ciple of opposition to the house of Austria, that he induced Louis 
to cross the Alps in person with 36,000 men, in order to estab- 
lish the Duke of Nevers in his new possessions. The king and 
the cardinal forced the pass of Susa in March, 1629, in spite of the 
Duke of Savoy, who was another competitor for Montferrat, and 
so decisive was the superiority of the Frenfli arms that the duke 
immediately afterward signed a treaty of peace and alliance with 
Louis, by which he undertook to procure the abandonment of the 
siege of Casale and the retreat of the Spaniards into their own 



A.D. 1630,1631. INTRIGUES AGAINST RICHELIEU. 397 

territory. This engagement was fulfilled, and the Duke of Nevers 
took possession of his dominions without farther contest. But the 
triumph was too rapid and easy to be durable. No sooner had 
the French army recrossed the mountains than the Empei-or Fer- 
dinand, acting in concert with Philip of Spain, poured his troops 
into the Grisons, while at the same moment two other strong di- 
visions invaded the duchy of Mantua and Montferrat. Kichelieu 
was now invested with extraordinary powers under the title of 
" lieutenant general representing the kin^s person." He assumed 
the supreme command of the army, having as his lieutenants the 
Marshals Bassompierre and Schomberg ; and, once more travers- 
ing the Alps, attacked the faithless Duke of Savoy, who had en- 
tered into a secret understanding with the enemy. On the 20th 
of March, 1630, the French besieged the town of Pignerol, which 
surrendered in three days. Several other fortresses were reduced 
in succession, and Richelieu soon found himself master of all the 
principal passes commanding the approach to Italy from the side 
of Dauphine. This great success was followed by the reduction 
of Savoy and the conquest of the marquisate of Saluces. By the 
treaty of Cherasco, concluded in April, 1631, the Imperialists 
evacuated Mantua, the Duke of Nevers received the investitui-e 
of that duchy from the emperor, and Pignerol and two other for- 
tresses were ceded by Savoy to France. The negotiator on this 
occasion was Giulio Mazarini (Mazarin), afterward the famous 
cai'dinal, at that time a diplomatic agent of the court of Rome at 
Turin. 

§ 10. Fresh difficulties and perils awaited Richelieu on his re- 
turn from this Italian expedition, arising from the determined 
and violent enmity of Mary de' Medici. Having been the means 
of raising him to power, the queen-mother imagined that she 
should find in the minister a creature absolutely devoted to her 
will ; instead of which, Richelieu had governed by the independ- 
ent resources of his own genius, and the consequence was, that ever 
since his elevation Mary had rapidly declined in political import- 
ance. The king, on his way to the army dui'ing the late cam- 
paign, fell dangerously ill at Lyons ; and Mary, while attending 
his sick-bed, earnestly importuned her son to dismiss the dreaded 
Richelieu from his councils forever. Louis was weak enough to 
Mcquiesce, only stipulating that no step should be taken against 
llie minister until the conclusion of the war. On his recovery 
Jjouis was again beset by his mother, his Avife, and a crowd of en- 
vious courtiers, all clamoring for the fulfillment of his promise ; 
but restored health had now inspired him with a more just appre- 
ciation of the cardinal's services. He hesitated, expostulated, and 
showed the utmost repugnance to a measure so evidently injuria 



398 LOUIS XIII. Chap. XIX. 

ous to the state. An outrageous scene took place in the king's 
presence between the queen-mother and Richelieu, at the close of 
which Louis quitted the palace without sa}dng a word, and took 
his departure for Yersailles. Every one thought the fall of the 
minister irrevocably certain. The courtiers flocked to the resi- 
dence of Mary at the Luxembourg ; the good news was transmit- 
ted with precipitate joy to Madrid, Vienna, Brussels, and Turin. 
But the sound judgment of Louis, supported by the arguments of 
his first equerry Saint Simon, had conducted him meanwhile to a 
very different conclusion. A message from the king was dispatch- 
ed to Richelieu, who had already begun to resign himself to his 
disgrace. He hurried to Versailles, was welcomed with every 
mark of confidence and favor, and received an assurance fi'om 
Louis that he would steadily uphold him against all his adversa- 
ries, Avould listen to no insinuation to his prejudice, and would re- 
move from court all who had it in their power to thwart or in- 
jure liim. These curious occurrences took place on the 11th of 
No%'ember, 1630, which has remained famous in French history as 
the " Day of Dupes." 

It was now the cardinal's turn to triumph, and his vengeance 
fell fatally upon those who had conspired his ruin. The first vic- 
tims were the two brothers Marillac. The one, who was keeper 
of the seals, was dismissed from ofiice and exiled to Cliuteaudun ; 
the other, a marshal of France and commander of the army in 
Italy, was arrested, tried by an extraordinary commission, which 
sat in the cardinal's own house at Rueil, convicted of the crime 
of peculation, and beheaded. A more difficult measure, but one 
upon which Richelieu was equally determined, was to effect a 
complete and final rupture between the king and his mother. It 
required all his eloquence to convince Louis that the cabals of 
which Mary was the centre were perilous to the state and the 
main obstacle to the glory of his reign. A fresh outbreak of Gas- 
ton, duke of Orleans, instigated by the queen-mother, at length 
roused the king to a decisive act of vigor. In February, 1631, 
Mary de' Medici M^as placed under a sort of honorable restraint at 
Compiegne, and Louis informed her by letter that he found it 
necessary, for reasons of state, to request her to retire to Moulins. 
Her rage was beyond bounds, but she had no alternative but to 
submit. Refusing, however, to go to Moulins, she escaped secret- 
ly from Compiegne on Jie 18th of July, gained the frontier of the 
Netherlands, and took refuge at the Spanish court at Brussels. 
This was a proceeding which Louis could not pardon. He ad- 
dressed to his mother a letter of cold and dignified reproof, and 
they never met again. Mary de' Medici, after manifold vicissi- 
tudes and humiliations, died in exile at Coloano in 1642. 



A.D. 1632. EXECUTION OF MONTMORENCY. 399 

The attitude of Gaston of Orleans was so seriously threatening 
that the king now marched a body of troops against him at Or- 
leans. Upon this the prince took flight into LoiTaine. The king 
confiscated the revenJre of his duchy, declai-ed his adlierents 
guilty of high treason, and compelled the Duke of Lorrainfe, by a 
military demonstration, to refuse him an asylum in his dominions. 
Gaston then retired to Brussels. Other acts of severity followed. 
Marshal Bassompierre was sent to the Bastile ; the Duke of Guise 
banished ; the Princess of Conti, with several others of the female 
aristocracy, were exiled from court. 

§ 11. The incorrigible Gaston, nevertheless, persisted in his 
turbulent opposition to the government. He intrigued with 
Spain, with Lorraine, and with all the nobles of France whom he 
knew to be ill affected toward Richelieu. Among others, he open- 
ed a correspondence with the Marshal Duke of Montmorency, 
governor of Languedoc — a nobleman who, for chivalrous valor, 
elegance of manners, and generosity of character, had no superior 
in the kingdom. Montmorency was unhappily prevailed upon to 
join the prince in an insurrectionary movement in the summer 
of 1632. Gaston, with a force of 2000 men, traversed Burgundy 
and Auvergne, and entered Languedoc, where the States of the 
province declared in his favor, and most of the principal towns 
broke out into open rebellion. On taking the field, however, the 
confederates found themselves totally unable to cope with the roy- 
al army under Marshal Schomberg ; and Montmorency avowed 
that he had no expectation whatever of success in such a fool- 
hardy enterprise. A fierce encounter took place under the walls 
of Castelnaudary on the 1st of September, when the rebels were 
completely routed and dispersed. Montmorency, as if seeking 
death, charged with desperate hai'dihood into the thickest of the 
enemy's ranks, and was taken prisoner, covered with wounds. 
The cowardly Gaston fled, and endeavored in vain to make terms 
Avith the king, one of his demands being the life of Montmorency. 
Finding himself utterly helpless, the prince at length made an ab- 
ject submission, abandoned his friends to the king's vengeance, 
and took his departure for Tours. 

Louis, attended by the cardinal, now proceeded to Toulouse, 
where the trial of Montmorency immediately commenced before 
the local Parliament. The crime of the illustrious prisoner Avas 
clear, and he himself frankly confessed it, though without any un- 
manly self-abasement. He was capitally convicted on the 30th 
of October. The king was besieged by intercessions for mercy 
from every quarter of the kingdom ; but even the passionate en- 
treaties of the Princess of Conde, Montmorency's sister, failed to 
move him, and the sentence was carried into execution on the 



400 LOUIS XIII. Chap. XrX. 



same day that it was passed, in the inner court of the Capitol at 
Toulouse. Montmorency met death with fearless courage, and 
with the most touching and noble resignation. He was the son 
and grandson of two Constables of Fran'^, and the last direct de- 
scendant of that great ducal house. 

§ 12. The intervention of France in the Thirty Years' War had 
first commenced in 1631, when Richelieu contracted an alliance 
with the heroic Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, to whom he 
promised an annual subsidy of 400,000 crowns, thus openly espous- 
ing the cause of tHe Protestant confederation against the empei'or 
and the Catholic league, Gustavus closed his glorious career on 
the field of Lutzen in November, 1632. The French alliance was 
renewed under the auspices of the Chancellor Oxenstiern ; but the 
advantage in the contest was now on the side of the Imperialists, 
and the battle of Nordlingen, in September, 1634, seemed decisive 
of their ultimate success. At this critical moment Richelieu re- 
solved to enter energetically into the strife with all the immense 
resources at his command ; and treaties were concluded with the 
States of Holland, with Sweden, with the German princes, with 
Switzerland, and with the Duke of Savoy, by which France en- 
gaged to raise four separate armies, amounting together to 120,000 
men. The share which France now took in this great struggle 
forms a constituent part of the history of the Thirty Years' War, 
and can not be related with advantage without giving a detailed 
account of the campaigns, which is impossible in the present work. 
The events of the first three years in which France was engaged 
(1635-1637) were unpropitious to her arms. In 1636 the Im- 
perialists penetrated into Picardy, and advanced within three days' 
march of the capital, ravaging the country and spreading universal 
panic. The danger was imminent ; the fidelity of the Count de 
Soissons, whose army covered Paris, was doubtful ; public alarm 
and indignation were violently excited ; and Richelieu is said for 
a moment to have lost his usual confident self-possession. Re- 
assured, however, by his trusty counselor. Father Joseph, he soon 
showed himself fully equal to the emergency; and, favored by 
the patriotic reaction which followed, the king and his minister 
Avere enabled to take the field early in the autumn Avith 40,000 
men, and besieged the town of Corbie, Avhich had been surrender- 
ed to the Spaniards. The cardinal, who was suflfering from ill- 
ness, established himself during the siege at Amiens ; and it was 
now that two of his bitterest enemies, Gaston of Orleans and tlie 
Count de Soissons, entered into a fresh conspiracy against his life, 
which only failed through the indecision of Gaston. A council 
lield at Richelieu's residence offered every facility to the princes 
for executing their design. The unsuspecting ministsr descended 



A.D. 1638. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 401 

the stair-case surrounded by the conspirators, and at this moment 
his fate hung upon a thread. But Gaston's nerve failed him ; he 
hesitated to give the appointed signal ; the rest dared not strike 
without his orders; they separated, and the cardinal escaped. 
Corbie capitulated on the 14th of November, and the enemy made 
no farther attempt in this direction. 

§ 13. The campaign of 1G38 was more favorable to France, 
Duke Bernard of Saxe- Weimar took several places on the Upper 
Khine, and defeated the Imperialists in a great battle at Rheinfeld 
on the 8d of March. He proceeded in August to lay siege to 
Brisach, a strongly-fortified town of Alsace, on the right bank of 
the Rhine. The Fi-ench contingent on this occasion was com- 
manded by De G-uebriant and the Vicomte de Turenne, who was 
now fast rising into high reputation. Brisach was defended with 
dauntless resolution, and repulsed several desperate assaults, but 
was at last reduced to extremity, and capitulated on the 18th of 
December, 1 638. The news of the capture of Brisach found Riche- 
lieu in deep distress ; his faithful and indefatigable coadjutor, the 
Capuchin Joseph du Tremblay, lay in the agonies of death. The 
cardinal strove to cheer the last hours of his friend by detailing 
the events of the campaign, and hastened to announce the achieve- 
ment which had just shed so much lustre on the French arms. 
"Courage, Father Joseph!" he exclaimed, "Brisach is ours!" 
A momentary smile of satisfaction passed over the monk's coun- 
tenance, and he expired. This personage, scarcely less remarka- 
ble in his own line than Richelieu himself, had been employed in 
all the most difficult diplomatic and political negotiations of the 
time, and had acquitted himself with singular acuteness and dex- 
terity, and with unswerving fidelity to the interests of France. 
His loss was severely felt by Richelieu, but his place Avas supplied 
in some measure by Mazarin, who now advanced rapidly in the 
minister's confidence. 

§ 14. Louis Xin., who had abdicated all the active functions 
of government in favor of his domineering minister, lived at this 
time a retired, isolated, melancholy life, estranged from his queen, 
and without power or influence. He had lately formed a platonic 
liaison with one of Anne's maids of hoi^or, Mademoiselle de Haute- 
fort. This young lady, indignant at the king's degradation, strove 
to rouse him from his apathy, and encouraged him to shake off" his 
absolute dependence on the cardinal. Richelieu, informed of this 
cabal against him, spared no pains to supersede Mademoiselle de 
Hautefort in the royal affections ; and Louis, unable to resist, dis- 
carded his friend in favor of Mademoiselle de Lafayette, in whom 
the cardinal expected to find a docile instrument of hi? policy. 
The influence of the new favorite, however, was exerted siill 'nore 



402 LOUIS XIII. Chap. XIX. 

decidedly against him ; Louis began to show signs of returning in- 
telligence and vigor ; and the jealous minister, in alarm, employ- 
ed such agency to work upon the scrupulous conscience of Made- 
moiselle de Lafayette as induced her to take the resolution of re- 
tiring to a convent. She executed her purpose in May, 1637; 
but the king continued to visit her in her seclusion, and her influ- 
ence over his mind was rather augmented than diminished. The 
intrigues against Richelieu continued, and Louis seems to have 
entertained serious thoughts of dismissing him, when an incident 
occurred which disconcerted his enemies and restored his suprema- 
cy. The cardinal discovered a clandestine correspondence carried 
on by Anne of Austria with the court of Spain, the cardinal-infant 
at Brussels, and other enemies of France. Anne's confidential 
messenger was arrested and thrown into the Bastile, and the queen, 
in extreme terror, made a full avowal of her fault to Richelieu, 
and signed a solemn engagement never again to commit a similar 
offense ; Avhereupon the minister promised in return to mediate 
for her a complete reconciliation with her husband. This was 
accordingly effected, and the good genius of Richelieu once more 
triumphed in the re-establishment of cordial relations between the 
royal pair. The Jesuit Caussin, the king's confessor, was dis- 
missed, and Louis discontinued his visits to Mademoiselle de La- 
fayette. These occurrences were shortly followed by a result of 
the highest importance to the welfare of the kingdom. After a 
childless union of more than twenty yeai's' duration, Anne of 
Austria found herself in a condition to give an heir to the throne. 
To the great joy of the nation, a dauphin, who afterward became 
Louis XIV., was born at St. Germains on the 5th of September, 
1638. This event reduced the mischievous Gaston of Orleans to 
comparative insignificance, and greatly strengthened the reins of 
government in the grasp of Richelieu. The king's health, always 
feeble, was now much impaii'ed, and the cardinal had already begun 
to count upon obtaining the regency in the prospect of his death. 

§ 15. The military efibrts of France in 1639 were not inferior 
to those of preceding years, and the persevering energy of Riche- 
lieu was at length rewarded by the humiliation and discomfiture 
of his enemies in all directfons. The opportune death of Bernard 
of Saxe- Weimar, who had established himself in Brisach, with the 
object of obtaining the province of Alsace as an independent sov- 
ereignty, enabled Richelieu to annex it to France. The Impe- 
rialists were defeated in Piedmont by the famous Count Harcourf, 
of the ducal family of Lorraine, who was appointed to the com- 
mand of the French troops (1640). He followed up his victory 
by investing Turin, which, after a protracted and gallant defense 
of more than four months, surrendered on the 22d of September, 



A.D. 1641. CONSriRACY OV CINQ-MARS. 403 

and the French immediately took possession of the capital ; Tu- 
renne, as Harcourt's second in command, bore a distinguished part 
in the operations of this memorable campaign. 

In the same year the Sjoaniards were driven out of Artois, and 
this important province was forthwith incorporated with the 
French dominions. This triumph was hailed with general re- 
joicings throughout the kingdom. At the same time a formida- 
ble insurrection broke out in Catalonia and Eoussillon, provoked 
by the violation of their fueros or immemorial privileges ; and at 
the beginning of the following year (1641) these provinces were 
formally united to the crown of France, with stipulations for the 
maintenance of their ancient franchises. 

§ 16. Meanwhile the insupportable despotism which Richelieu 
had established drove his enemies once more to the hopeless ex- 
pedient of armed rebellion. The chief mover in this new revolt 
was the Count of Soissons, who gained a complete victory over 
the royal forces near Sedan on the 6th of July, 1641, but was 
killed by a pistol-shot at the close of the day, as he was giving 
orders for the pursuit of the fugitives. This event brought tlie 
insurrection to a close ; but it was soon followed by another at- 
tempt against Richelieu, the last and the most dangerous of the 
many conspiracies during his long tenure of power. The cardinal 
had placed near the king's person the gay and brilliant Plenri 
d'Effiat, marquess of Cinq-Mars, in the quality of grand equerry. 
This young noble quickly ingratiated himself with Louis, became 
his inseparable companion, and, being of an aspiring, enterprising 
character, acquired a strong ascendency over the feeble-minded 
monarch. His vanity and presumption increasing in proportion 
to the royal favor, Cinq-Mars demanded a seat in the council, and 
intruded his presence at the most confidential interviews of Louis 
with his imperious minister. Richelieu rebuked him for this in- 
solence in disdainful language, and absolutely forbade him to enter 
the council-chamber in future. From that moment Cinq-Mars 
exerted his whole influence to effect the ruin of the cardinal, and 
even proposed his removal by the same means that had dispatched 
the Mai'shal D'Ancre. Louis listened in silence, not daring to en- 
courage the scheme openly, although the thraldom in which he 
was held by Richelieu had long become inexpressibly irksome. 
Monsieur le Grand, as Cinq-Mars was called, pursued his revenge- 
ful design. All the cardinal's ancient enemies were more or less 
involved in the plot, and it was also communicated to Fran9ois 
de Thou, son of the historian of that name, a young man of great 
talent and promise, who, although he cordially hated Richelieu, 
refused to concur in his assassination. Louis meanwhile was at- 
tacked by a dangerous fit of illness ; and the conspirators, anxious 



404 LOUIS XIII. Chap, XIX 

to strengthen their position in the event of his death, committed 
the egregious folly of entering into a treaty Avith the court of Spain, 
by which that power engaged to assist them with a large force of 
horse and foot, together with an ample subsidy. In return the 
King of Spain was to recover all the conquests made from him hj 
France during the war. .^ 

These culpable intrigues could not escape the penetration of 
Eichelieu ; his agents served him faithfully, and he was fully on 
his guard. Cinq-Mars succeeded by degrees in producing a cer- 
tain coolness and estrangement between Louis and the cardinal'; 
notwithstanding Avhicli the king was induced, in March, 1642, to 
undertake in person the command of the army in Koussillon, where 
Richelieu proposed to prosecute the war with renewed vigor. The 
king and his minister, both in failing health, journeyed to the south 
by different routes ; on reaching Narbonne, Eichelieu became so 
much worse that he was compelled to remain in that city, while 
Louis proceeded to the camp of Marshal la Meilleraie, who was 
besieging Ferpignan. Thus separated from the court, his frame 
wasted by a burning fever, disabled from active exertion, and aban- 
doned by his friends, Richelieu's condition seemed almost despe- 
rate ; still his firmness never forsook him, even when the news ar- 
rived of a defeat of the French under Marshal de Guiche in Ficardy, 
which le»ft that frontier open to the Spaniards. Louis soon wearied 
of the siege of Ferpignan, and discovered that in Richelieu's ab- 
sence he possessed no one to depend on for the conduct of affairs. 
A reaction followed, and a message was dispatched to the car- 
dinal, assuring him that he stood higher than ever in his sover- 
eign's favor. At this moment, by a singular stroke of good for- 
tune, Richelieu received from an unknown hand a copy of the 
treaty between Cinq-Mars and his friends and the Spanish court ; 
it was instantly laid before the king ; and Avith this positive proof 
of their treason in his hands, he could not hesitate to order the 
arrest of Cinq-Mars and De Thou, which took place at Narbonne 
on the 12 th of June. Louis then joined the cardinal at Tarascon, 
where a reconciliation ensued between them, the king condescend- 
ing to undignified explanations in excuse for his late conduct. 
Having conferred vmliraited poAvers upon the minister, Louis re- 
turned to Faris, Avhile Richelieu embarked in a magnificent barge 
upon the Rhone, and ascended to Lyons, dragging in a boat behind 
him his tAvo unfortunate prisoners, for Avhom it Avas too plain that 
tliere remained no hope of mercy. The contemptible Gaston of 
Orleans, Avith his usual baseness, betrayed his associates by ac- 
knowledging the treaty Avith Spain ; this completed the legal proof 
against Cinq-Mars ; and De Thou Avas included in his condemna- 
tion for having neglected to reveal a plot in Avhich he had no crim- 



A.D. 1C42, 1043. DEATH OF EICHELIEU AND THE KING. 405 

inal share. Both culprits were beheaded in the Place des Terreaux 
at Lyons on the 12th of September, 1642. " Sire," wrote Kiche- 
lieu to the king immediately afterward, " sire, your enemies are 
dead, and your arms are in Perpignan." That city had surren- 
dered to La Meilleraie on the 9th of September. Its fall completed 
the conquest of Koussillon, which has ever since remained a prov- 
ince of the French empire. 

The Duke of Orleans was deprived of his dignities and domains, 
and commanded to retire to Blois. The Duke of Bouillon paid 
the penalty of his connection with the late conspiracy by the loss 
of his principality of Sedan, which was forfeited to France. 

§ 17. Eichelieu had now reached the summit of his extraordi- 
nary fortunes. His policy was every where triumphant ; his ene- 
mies crushed ; the proud house of Austria checked, repulsed, mor- 
tified in all directions. At no former period had France exercised 
so decided an ascendency in Europe. But, as if to " point a mor- 
al"' on the utter instability of human greatness, the cardinal was 
at this moment sinking under the ravages of a mortal disease ; 
and on his return to Pai'is it became evident that his days were 
numbered. On his death-bed, and immediately before receiving 
the last sacraments, he called God to witness that throughout his 
administration, he had pursued no other object than the welfare 
of the Church and the kingdom ; and being asked whether he for- 
gave his enemies, he replied that he had never had any except 
those of the State. This illustrious statesman breathed his last 
on the 4th of December, 1642, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. 
" There is a great politician gone !" was the only observation of 
the cold-hearted Louis on receiving the intelligence. 

The chief change produced in the ministry by the death of Eiche- 
lieu was the elevation of Cardinal Mazarin to a seat in the coun- 
cil ; the other ministers retained their offices. 

Louis XIII. survived his great minister scarcely six months. 
His death took place at St. Germains on the 14th of May, 1643, 
thirty-three years exactly from the commencement of his reign. 
He had not completed the forty -second year of his age- 
Louis possessed no great qualities and few glaring defects. His 
chief merit consists in having maintained in power, from public 
motives, for the long period of eighteen yeai'S, a minister whom he 
personally disliked, and the yoke of whose supremacy became at 
length infinitely galling and oppressive. This evinces a disinter- 
ested anxiety for the advancement and prosperity of France, The 
correctness of his private morals, so rare a virtue among the 
princes of his race, must also be recorded to the credit of Louis. 
He left the regency to his queen, Anne of Austria, and named the 
Duke of Orleans lieutenant general ; they were to be assisted by 



406 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. XIX. 



a council of state composed of Mazarin, the Prince of Conde, the 
chancelloi' Seguier, and the secretaries Chavigny and Bouthillier. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



THE PARLIAMENTS. 

In the primitive times of tlie French mon- 
archy tlie Parlcnient was simply tlie court or 
council of the sovereign, consisting of the 
great vassals of the rlomaine royal or duchy 
of France, the prelates, and the principal dig- 
nitaries of the crown. These assemblies dis- 
cussed and determined all causes arising 
among the fiefs held in capite of the crown 
throughout the realm. They also decided 
upon questions of war and peace ; they im- 
posed taxes, and regulated matters of internal 
administration. But the authority of the 
Parliament at this early date was extremely 
partial and limited, since the constitution of 
the feudal system enabled any particular 
SLigneur to ignore and annul its decrees at 
pleasure. St. Louis took an important step 
toward improving the administration of jus- 
tice by instituting grands baillis to hold pro- 
vincial courts of appeal in the king's name. 
The judgments of the local seigneur.s thus be- 
came liable to revision by the tribunals of the 
sovereign ; and the result was a gradual dim- 
inution of the feudal, and an enlargement of 
the royal power. During the 13th century the 
study of the Roman law was extensively re- 
vived in France, and gave rise to the class call- 
ed leijistes, juristes, or jimsconsultes, who 
eventually Isecame the chief officers of the royal 
courts, and the judges of all causes throtighout 
the kingdom. It was Philip the Fair who first 
clearly defined the functions of the Parlia- 
ment, and gave it a regitlar constitution as 
the supreme court of justice. By his ordon- 
nance of 1302 he withdrew from its cogni- 
zance all matters of finance and general gov- 
ernment, and restricted it to jiidUial duties. 
All financial business was thenceforth trans- 
acted in the Chambre des Comptes; while 
political and adnmiistrative concerns were 
brought before the Council of State, otherwise 
called the Grand' Conseil. The Parliament, 
properly so called, was now organized in three 
chambers : 1. The Cliambre dcs Jieqiiete.% 
which tried all actions instituted directly be- 
fore the Parliament of Paris ; 2. The Chnni - 
brc des Enqwtef^ for the preliminary consid- 
eration of cases of appeal ; and, 3. The Grand' 
Climnbre, or Chambre des Plaidoiries, in 
which these appeals were finally heard and 
decided. The Parliament was ordered to as- 
pemble twice in the year, at Easter and on the 
Feast of All Saints, for two months at a time ; 
its place of meeting was the ancient Palais de 
la Cite, afterward called the Palais de Justice, 
which name it still retains. Philip IV. also 
established two courts of exchequer (scaccii- 
ria) at Kouen for the province of Novmiindy, 
and a court o{ gi'ands jours (assizes) atTroyes 
for Champagne. The judges of these provin- 
cial courts were nominated expressly by the 
crown. 



In this early period of its history, the great 
feudal barons alone were, strictly speaking, 
judges of the Parliament ; they were styled 
conseillers-ne's, or conseillers-jugeurs ; the ci- 
vilians orlegistes occupied a very subordinate 
position, being simjjly advisers, exponnders 
of the law, or, at most, assessors. But in 
course of time, as the science of law became 
more complicated, and the business of the 
court more important and onerous, the barons 
discontinued their attendance, and the law- 
yers succeeded to their place. From the time 
when this great change was accomplished, to- 
ward the middle of the 1-lth century, the Par- 
liament of Paris rapidly increased in jurisdic- 
tion and authority. Instead of being migra- 
tory as heretofore, it was now fixed perma- 
nently at Paris, and continued its sessions 
throughout the year, with the exception of a 
short vacation. The j udges, instead of being 
named by temporary commissions from the 
crown, held their offices for life, and soon es- 
tablished the right of self-appointment by 
presenting to the king a list of candidates 
from which he was obliged to choose. A de- 
cree of Louis XI. in 140T declared them irre- 
movable ; and a farther innovation took place 
under Louis XII. and Francis I., when the ju- 
dicial seats of the Parliament were openly of- 
fered for sale to the highest bidder. By the 
law called the paillette, passed in 1604, it was 
provided that the judges, on consideration of 
paying to the government annually a sixtieth 
part of the value of their offices, might secure 
their hereditary transmission, and make them 
the permanent property of their families. 
This arrangement, though at first sight it ap- 
pears seriously detrimental to public justice, 
was not without beneficial resiUts. It con- 
tributed to foi-m a succession of learned, pa- 
triotic, and courageous magistrates, wlio iu 
the days of the absolute monarchy did good 
service to the cause of liberty by firaily with- 
standing and arresting the encroachments of 
the crowii. The power and independence of 
the judicial order was one of the few checks 
upon despotism that remained when the con- 
vocation of the great council of the nation — 
the States-General — had fallen into disuse. 
Hence it is not surprising to find that the re- 
nalite des charges meets with distinct com- 
mendation from Jlontesquieu (Jisj}. des Luis, 
liv. 6, chap. 19). At the same time, this 
practice was undoubtedly productive of grave 
and multiplied abuses. It was abolished, like 
so many other usages of the ancien reaime, 
bv a decree of the Constituent Assembly, ia 
August, 17S9. 

Various alterations were made by success- 
ive sovereigns in tlie composition of the Par- 
liament of Paris. In 14iJ3 an ordonnance of 
Charles VII. instituted a new chamber called 
tlie Tournclle, because its judges were fur- 
nished in turn by a deputation of councilors 



CiiAi'. XIX. 



THE. PARLIAMENTS. 



407 



named by the other cliambei's. The Tour- 
nelle was a criminal court, but only for of- 
fenses which were not punishable with death ; 
capital punishment belonging exclusively to 
the jurisdiction of the GrancC Charnbre. At 
the commencement of the reign of Louis XL 
the Parliament consisted of one hundred mem- 
bers, namely, twelve peers of France, eight 
iriaitre-'i de-s requites, and eighty ordinary 
councilors, half being laymen and half eccle- 
siastics. A century later the number of coun- 
cilors was one hundred and twenty. In the 
latter part of the reiga of Louis XIV. the 
Parliament comprised no less than seven 
chambers, namely, the Grand' Chambre, three 
Ohanibres des Enquetes, the Tournelle Crim- 
inelle, and two Chambres des Hequetes. At- 
tached to the Grand' Chambre there were a 
premier president, and nine other jureszcteni.'* 
d mortier (so called from the square black vel- 
vet cap which they wore), four niaitres des 
requetes, and thirty-seven councilors, of whom 
twelve were clerical and twenty-five laymen. 
Besides these there were many honorary coun- 
cilors—the princes of the blood, the peers of 
France, the members of the Council of State, 
the chancellor, the keeper of the seals, the 
Archbishop of Paris, and the abbots of St. 
Denis and Clugny. The Grand' Chambre of 
the Parliament was the highest court of ju- 
dicature in the realm. Its jurisdiction em- 
braced all causes affecting the rights and 
privileges of the crown, all charges of high 
treason, all questions respecting the regale^ 
all matters coimected with the interests of 
the peers of France, and the affairs of the 
University and public hospitals of Paris. 
Each Chambre des Enquetes was composed 
of three presidents and thirty-five councilors. 
The Chambres des Requites had each three 
presidents and fifteen councilors. The Cham- 
bre de VEdit, established by virtue of the 
Edict ot Nantes in 153S, had one president 
and sixteen councilors, one, or, at most, two 
of whom were protestants. Thia court deter- 
mined all causes between Protestants and 
Catholics. It was suppressed by Louis XIV. 
in 1669. 

Besides the Parliament of Paris there were 
several proviiicial Parliaments, which exe- 
cuted similar judicial functions within the 
district (ressort) assigned to each. The first of 
these was the Pai'liament of Toulouse, which 
originated with Philip tlie Fair, and was con- 
firmed and finally organized by Charles VII. 
in 1443. Its jurisdiction extended over the 
wljole of Languedoc, Quercy, the county of 
Foix, Rouergue, the Vivarais, and part of 
Gascony. The judges of the Parliament of 
Paris claimed the right of sitting in that of 
Toulouse, and the councilors of Toulouse 
made similar pretensions to seats on the 
bench at Paris; this occasioned a vehement 
controversy, which remained undecided down 
to the time of the dissolution of the Parlia- 
ments. Tlie general doctrine, however, was, 
that while all causes arising ^vitbin the res- 
sort of each Parliament were to be judged 
.=olely by the local tribunal, without any final 
appeal to the Parliament of Paris, all tlie sov- 
cicign courts were integral parts of one and 
the same gseat institution, and all the judges 



of the realm enjoyed a perfect identity of 
rights and privileges. By the term sovereign 
courts is meant that each was independent 
within its own boundaries, and free from the 
interference and control of any superior tri- 
bunal. 

The other provincial Parliaments were those 
of DauphinO, which sat at Grenoble, and was 
instituted in 1453 ; Bordeaux, founded by 
Louis XI. in 1402 ; Dijon, for Burgundy, cre- 
ated in 1470 ; Aix, for Provence, created in 
1501 ; Brittany, dating fi-om 1553 ; and Pan, 
established by Louis XIII., for the province 
of Boarn, in 1021. 

To each Parliament belonged a superior of- 
ficer, called the proctireiir-gmiral, who was 
at the head of the bar, and fulfilled duties 
nearly resembling those of the attorney-gen- 
eral in England. He acted as public prose- 
cutor in the name of the sovereign ; took the 
lead as principal counsel in all suits insti- 
tuted by the crown; caused criminals to be 
arrested, imprisoned and brought before the 
tribunals, and demanded the infliction of the 
penalties prescribed by the law. They were 
also charged, to some extent, with the main- 
tenance of ecclesiastical discipline ; and it 
was specially their duty to institute appeals 
against any bttUs from the court of Rome 
which appeared inconsistent with the liber- 
ties of the Galilean Church. Each procureur- 
general had several suhstiiiitcs to assist him 
in his office. They were knoivn collectively 
in ancient times as gens du roi^ and afterward 
as the parquet. The institution of these roy- 
al advocates dates from the year 1354. 

In proportion as the kings of France ad- 
vanced toward despotism, the Parliament of 
Paris assumed more and more a political 
character, and attempted to impose a consti- 
tutional check on the excess and abuse of the 
royal power. The means employed for this 
purpose deserve to be carefully noticed. 

The practice of enregistrement was co3val 
■with the foundation of the Parliament; it 
was originally nothing more than the form of 
enrolling in the Parliamentary records the 
ordonnances issued by the sovereign. As 
early as the reign of Philip '^l. we find the 
following words at the end of an ordonnanca 
of 1336 : "• Lecta per cameram, registrata par 
curiam Parliamenti in libro ordinationum 
regiarum." In course of time it was asserted 
that this was no mere matter of form, but 
that Parliament might either register or re- 
fuse to register the decrees presented to 
them; and that no decree, while it remained 
unregistered, possessed force or efficacy as a 
law. By this skillful manceuvre a veto was 
established, in great measure, on the power 
of arbitrary legislation which had been usurp, 
ed by the crown. When the Parliament ob- 
jected to an ordonnance, they presented a re- 
monstrance to the king, stating the ground 
of their opposition ; and if this was unattend- 
ed to, they refused altogether to enter it 
among their archives. Instances of such op- 
position are not uncommon during the 15th, 
16th, and 17th centuries; and a successful 
barrier was thus often raised against acts of 
oppression, against prodigality in public ex- 
penditure, and especially against the en- 



408 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. XIX. 



croachmentS of the court of Kome. The Par- 
liament strenuously resisted the concordat in 
the reign of Fraacis I. ; and again the im- 
portant ordonnance of Moulins in 1566, which 
Ihiiited, though at the same time it acknowl- 
edged, the riglit of remonstrance. Tliese pre- 
tensions were more and more pertinaciously 
maintained, until at last, as all readers of 
French history are aivare, an open collision 
took place between the crown and the Parlia- 
ment during the minority of Louis XIII. 
Tlie magistrates attempted to dictate to the 
queen regent in matters of the highest mo- 
ment affecting the conduct of the state, upon 
which an arret of the grancC conseil annulled 
their proceedings, and expressly forbade them 
to interfere in the concerns of government. 
Under the stern rule of Eichelieu tlie Parlia- 
ment was reduced to submissive silence, but 
during the regency of Anne of Austria the 
troubles broke out afresh. The President de 
Mesmes declared that "• the Parliaments held 
an authority superior even to that of the 
States-General, since by the right of verifica- 
tion they were judges of all that was there 
determined." Extensive reforms were pe- 
lemptorily demanded, and the rupture which 
ensued was the immediate cause of the civil 
war of the Fronde. The result of this strug- 
gle was to augment and consolidate the power 
of the crown; and Louis XIV., on attaining 
his majority, resolved to take summary meas- 
ures for restraining the Parliament within the 
bounds of its proper jurisdiction. Tlie anec- 
dote of his entering the Palais de Justice in 
his hunting costume, booted and spurred, 
with a whip in his hand, is probably apocry- 
phal; but it is certain that he rebuked the 
magistrates in haughty and indignant lan- 
guiigj ; interdicted them from remonstrating 
against his edicts, and even from discussing 
them ; and insisted on their confining tliem- 
sc'lves simply to the administration of justice. 
At;empts were made, nevertheless, by the 
Parliament during this reign to maintain its 
political influence ; in 1065 a stubborn resist- 
ance was made to a decres reducing the rate 
of legal interest on money; and in 1C67 the 
ordonnance civile (for reforming the proced- 
ure in courts of justice) was only registered 
after vehement remonstrance, and by an ex- 
treme exercise of the royal prerogative. On 
this occasion the king ordered the grefficr of 
the Parliament to tear out of the register all 
records relating to the war of the Fronde. 
Finally, in the year 1UT3, an ordonnance ap- 
peared rjquiring absolutely that all royal 
edicts should be registered within eight days, 
witlwut 1-emonstrance or discussion ; and dur- 
ing the remainder of this reign the Parlia- 
ment was compelled to desist from all farther 
assertion of its rights. 

But on the death of Louis the privilege of 
i-emonstrance was restored by the Regent 
IJuke of Orleans; and during the greater 
part of the ISth century the Parliament was 
in a state of almost constant antagonism to 
the crown, producing from time to time the 
most lamentable derangement and confusion 
in public affairs. The Pull Unigenitus, tlie 
financial scheme of Law, tlie Jansenist con- 



troversy, the billets de confession, the reforms 
projected by the Chancellor Maupeou, all be- 
came successively occasions of bitter conten- 
tion ; until, in the end, Louis XV. took the 
extreme step of suspending the Paiiiament 
altogether, and condemning all the magis- 
trates to exile. It was replaced first by a 
clunnbre royale^ next by a commission of 
councilors of state, and lastly by courts called 
conseils sujjeriiiors. lie-established under 
Louis XVI., the Parliament pursued its usual 
system of factious opposition to the court, 
witliout promoting in the smallest degree the 
cause of national liberty. In 1TS8 it joined 
in the general outcry for the assembling of tlie 
States- General, little anticipating the calam- 
itous consequences of that momentous meas- 
ure. The Kevolution soon put a period to its 
existence ; a decree of the Constituent Assem- 
bly suppressed the Parliaments throughout 
the kingdom in Xovember, 1T90. 

The comparative inefficiency of the French 
Parliaments in modern times, and their ulti- 
mate destiiiction, may undoubtedly be traced 
to one principal cause ; namely, their selfish 
devotion to the interests and ascendency of 
their own order, and their consequent isola- 
tion from the nation and hostility to its liber- 
ties. The magistrates belonged almost ex- 
clusively io the privileged classes ; they were 
exempt from the taille and other pecuniary 
burdens, and partook strongly of that aristo- 
cratic es2M'it de corps which animated the no- 
blesse and the clergy. Thus, when reforms 
were agitated, and it was proposed to distrib- 
ute the taxation equally among all classes, 
the Parliaments espoused the side of their 
own private interest instead of acting for the 
general welfare of the country. They showed, 
at the same time, a spirit of perverse opposi- 
tion to the crown, thwarting to the utmost of 
their power the efforts of successive ministers 
to improve the wretched situation of affairs. 
Hence they proved incapable of fighting the 
battle of the Constitution when the great cil- 
sis arrived, and eventually were swept away 
in the general overthrow. 

The ceremony by which the French kings 
compelled the registration of their edicts by 
the Parliament was called a lit de ju>itice. 
The monarcli proceeded in state to the Grand' 
Cliambre, and the chancellor, liaving taken 
his pleasure, announced that the king re- 
quired sucli and such a decree to be entered 
on their records in Iiis presence. It was held 
that this personal interference of the sover- 
eign suspended for the time being the func- 
tions of all inferior magistrates, and the edict 
was accordingly registered without a word of 
objection. The form of registration ivas as 
follows : "Le roi seant en ."^on lit de justice 
a ordonne et ordonne que les presents edits 
seront enregistres ;" and at the end of the de- 
cree, "Fait en Parlement, le roi y seant en 
son lit de justice." The student may consult 
on this subject the Histoire du Parleinenl de 
Paris, by Voltaire, and Lettres sur les an- 
ciens Parlements de France, by tlie Comte de 
Boulainvilliers. Also Sir James Steplien's 
Lectures, Lect. 9 and 23. 



2 - CO o* t^ 





Barricades at the Porte Saint Antoine, August 27tli, 1648, tlie commencement of tlie Civil 
War of the Froude. (From aa engraving of the time.) 



CHAPTER XX. 

KEIGN OP LOUIS XIV. I. FROM HIS ACCESSION TO Tllli DEATH OF CAR- 
DINAL MAZAEIN. A.D. 1643-1661. 

§ 1. Kegency of Anne of Austria; Cardinal Mazarin named Minister; the 
Importans. § 2. Battle of Rocroi ; Battle of Nordlingen. § 3. Capture 
of Dunliirk ; the Prince of Conde' at Lerida ; Turenne's Campaign in Ba- 
varia. § 4. Battle of Lens ; Peace of Westphalia ; End of the Thirty- 
Years' War. § 5. Civil Dissensions; the Chamber of St. Louis; Arrest 
of Broussel ; Insurrection in Paris. § 6. Commencement of the War of 
the Fronde ; Engagement at Charenton ; Treaty of Ruel ; Turenne quits 
France. § 7. Arrest of the Princes ; Revolt of Guienne ; Battle of Rhe- 
tel ; Mazarin compelled to leave France. § 8. Revolt of Conde; Return 
of Turenne. § 9. Battle of St. Antoine; Intrigues at Paris ; Conde joins 
the Spaniards ; Pacification of the Fronde. § 10. Progress of the War 
with Spain ; Siege of Arras ; Battle of the Downs ; Conference at the Isle 
of Pheasants. § 11. Peace of the Pyrenees; Marriage of Louis XIV.; 
Death of Cardinal Mazarin; his Character. 

§ 1. Anne of Austria commenced her regency by setting aside 
the arrangements of her husband, and causing his will to be can- 
celed by the Parliament. The council of regency was thus sup- 
pressed ; and no opposition being offered, the queen assumed the 
supreme authority of government. To the surprise of all, she be- 
stowed the office of chief minister on Cardinal Mazarin, the faith- 
ful disciple of her persevering enemy, Kichclieu. 



A.D. M43-1645. THE IMPOKTANS.— BATTLE OF KOCKOI. 4II 

The new government soon found itself embaiTassed by hostile 
intrigues. The nobles, so long oppressed by Eichelieu, eagerly 
struggled to regain their predominance in the state ; and the fac- 
tion of the " Importans," headed by the Duke of Beaufort, son of 
the Duke of Vendome, was the first to oppose the ministry of 
Mazarin. The queen, in her anxiety to conciliate all parties, com- 
menced by granting them almost whatever they demanded. The 
'' Importans," charmed by her condescension, imagined that they 
were henceforth to cany all before them ; and the witty De Retz 
declai-ed that for two or three months the whole French language 
was compi-ised in five little words — " the queen is so good !" These, 
however, were transient illusions. Madame de Chevreuse, one of 
the foremost of the new cabal, who had attempted to displace some 
of the ministers, received a peremptory repulse ; in revenge, the 
duchess and her friends plotted no less a crime than the assassin- 
ation of Mazarin ; and this scheme having been discovered and 
frustrated, the Duke of Beaufort was arrested on the 2d of Sep- 
tember, and sent prisoner to Vincennes ; the Duke of Vendome, 
Madame de Chevreuse, and all their chief partisans, were exiled 
from court and quitted France. 

§ 2. Meanwhile the events of the war were of great interest and 
importance. Immediately upon the death of Richelieu the house 
of Austria resumed the offensive, and in May, 1643, the viceroy 
of the Netherlands, Francisco de Mello, proceeded with an army 
of twenty-six thousand men to invest Rocroi, a frontier fortress in 
the district of the Ardennes. The Fi-ench, commanded by the 
young Duke of Enghien, eldest son of the Prince of Conde, march- 
ed immediately to relieve the place ; and on the 19th of May, five 
days after the death of Louis XIII., was fought the memorable 
battle of Rocroi, which resulted in the decisive triumph of the 
French array, and the defeat and dispersion of the Spaniards, with 
a loss of fifteen thousand men. Their magnificent infantry, so long 
esteemed the finest force in Europe, Avas literally exterminated on 
this fatal day. The victor, at this time only twenty-two years of 
age, thus laid the foundation of that splendid reputation by which 
he was afterward distinguished as the "great Conde'." He owed 
his early advancement to the discriminating favor of Richelieu ; 
the cardinal had recognized his genius, and had married him to 
one of his nieces, Claire Cle'mence de Maille, a daughter of the 
Marshal Duke of Bre'ze. 

Two years afterward the French, commanded by Turenne, re- 
cently created a marshal, and by the hero of Rocroi, again gained 
a brilliant victory in the terrible battle of Nordlingen, 7th of Au- 
gust, 1645. The Imperialists under the famous Count de Mercy 
had taken up a position which was at first deemed impregnable, 



412 LOUIS XIV. CiiAf. XX. 

and the Duke of Enghien, who assailed it with the French right, 
was repulsed with fearful slaughter. He then joined the left wing 
under Turenne, and their combined efforts were at length success- 
ful in breaking through the enemy's lines, and completing their 
overthrow. The gallant Mercy was slain in this bloody field ; 
Marshal Grammont was taken prisoner ; Enghien, who exhibited 
prodigious valor, had two horses killed 'under him. He generous- 
ly attributed the brilliant success of the day to Turenne. 

Nevertheless, the I'esults of the victory of Nordlingen were not 
such as might have been expected. John de Werth, who succeed- 
ed to the command of the Imperialists, retreated without molest- 
ation, and was soon joined by the Archduke Leopold with nine 
thousand fi'esh troops ; and the French, thus considerably out- 
numbered, hastened to cross the Neckar, and retired to Philips- 
burg. The Duke of Enghien, exhausted by the fatigues of the 
campaign, fell ill, and returned to France. 

§ 3. The French army in Flanders was under the command of 
the feeble Gaston of Orleans ; and it was resolved to make this 
the principal theatre of the war in 1646. The Duke of Enghien 
nobly consented to serve as second in command to Gaston ; and 
the important town of Courtrai surrendered to them on the 29th 
of June. Gaston, after this, quitted the army for the court ; and 
Enghien, left in sole command, resolved to undertake the siege of 
Dunkirk, the most frequented and valuable sea-port on the Ger- 
man Ocean: Bravely seconded by the Dutch fleet under Admiral. 
Van Tromp, the French general reduced Dunkirk to submission 
by the middle of October. This is considered one of the most re- 
markable achievements of the great Conde, and produced at the 
time an extraordinary sensation. 

The fall of Dunkirk was followed by a peace between Spain 
and the United Provinces of Holland, in January, 1647. The 
Duke of Enghien re-entered France, and about the same time suc- 
ceeded, by the death of his father, to the title of Prince of Conde, 
together with the governments of Burgundy and Berry, and a 
magnificent fortune. His ambitious character, his military re- 
nown, his political power and influence, now made Conde an ob- 
ject of jealous apprehension to the Cardinal-minister. Mazarin 
dreaded his presence at court ; and as a specious pretext for re- 
moving him, appointed him to the command of the army in Cata- 
lonia, whei'e Count Harcourt had lately been compelled to raise 
the siege of Lerida. Conde accepted the honorable mission, pro- 
ceeded to Barcelona, and opened the trenches before Lerida in 
May, 1647. Here he met with the first check in his triumphant 
career. Lerida made good its defense in spite of all his genius, 
valor, and perseverance ; the besiegers sustained immense losses 



A.D. 1648. BATTLE OF LENS. 41 3 

both in action and by desertion to the enemy ; and Conde, in or- 
der to escape a greater disaster, at length abandoned the siege and 
retired into the mountains. The prince was deeply mortified by 
this failure, and reproached Mazarin, on his return to France, for 
having neglected to re-enforce his army so as to insure success ; 
the minister was profuse in his excuses, and Conde was immedi- 
ately reappointed to the command of the army in Flanders for the 
ensuing campaign. 

Marshal Turenne had in the mean time prosecuted the war 
with signal talent and success in Germany. In conjunction with 
the Swedes, he completely routed the Bavai-ians at Zummershaus- 
en, near Augsburg (1648), where they were commanded by Mon- 
tecuculi, so famous in the subsequent wars of Louis XIV. The 
Eleptor of Bavaria fled from his doK|^ons ; and the victors were 
only deterred from marching to Vienna by a sudden inundation 
of the Eiver Inn. 

§ 4. Conde commenced the campaign in Flanders by I'educing 
the town of Ypres, which capitulated on the 29th of May. The 
French were opposed by the Archduke Leopold, brother of the 
Emperor Ferdinand III., with a superior force of eighteen thou- 
sand men, who, dui'ing the siege of Ypres, surprised Courtrai, and 
afterward, entering Picardy, menaced Peronne. Being pursued 
by Conde, the archduke retreated into Flanders, and, gaining the 
sea-coast, besieged and captured the town of Furnes. After some 
delay and much manojuvring, Conde at length brought the Im- 
perialists to a general engagement at Lens in Artois, between Be- 
thune and Douai. The battle was obstinately contested ; the 
rear-guard of the French was thrown into confusion by an im- 
petuous charge of cavalry under General Beck ; but the genius 
of Conde triumphed in the end, and within three hours the arch- 
duke's army was ii-retrievably defeated and almost annihilated. 
Three thousand of the Imperialists were slain in the field : five 
thousand prisoners, together with artillery, baggage, and stan- 
dards, were the trophies of the victory. General Beck was taken 
prisoner and conveyed to Arras, where he died in a few days of 
his wounds. 

The battle of Lens, fought on the 20tli of August, 1648, gave 
a povvei"ful impulse to the negotiations for peace, which had been 
slowly proceeding since 1644 at Munster and Osnabruck, two 
towns of Westphalia. The emperor, humbled by his late reverses, 
felt the necessity of bringing to a conclusion this sanguinary war, 
which had lasted thirty years ; and the two treaties of Westpha- 
lia, between the empire, France, Sweden, and the German states, 
were signed on the 24th of October, 1648. The details of this 
pacification are extremely intricate, as it embraced not only the 



414 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XX. 

political, but also the religious affairs of the German Empire ; but 
the only points which require our notice here are those which 
relate to France. France obtained important advantages. The 
emperor ceded to her, in full sovereignty, the whole of Alsace 
with the exception of Strasburg, and her dominions were thus ex- 
tended to the long-coveted boundary of the Rhine. She also re- 
ceived the towns of Pignerol in Piedmont, and Brisach on the 
farther bank of the Ehine ; and the fortress of Philipsburg was 
henceforth to be garrisoned by French troops. The emperor like- 
wise i^cognized the annexation of the district of the Troiseveches 
— Metz, Toul, and Verdun — which had been conquered nearly a 
century before. The navigation of the Rhine was to I'emain free, 
and the emperor engaged to erect no fortresses on the right bank 
between Basle and Philipsburg. Lorraine was to remain provis- 
ionally in the hands of the French, until an amicable arrangement 
could be eflPected with the dispossessed duke. This amounted vir- 
tually to a surrender of the duchy. 

Such were the main particulars of this celebrated treaty, by 
which France acquired neai-ly the proportions which she retains 
at the present day. The general result of the Thirty Years' War 
was to diminish materially the preponderance of the house of Aus- 
tria in Europe, and to circumscribe the power of the imperial 
crown in Germany, the independence of the various minor states, 
territorial, civil, and religious, being now fully established. The 
Peace of Westphalia forms a memorable epoch in modern history, 
as its provisions were adopted for the basis of all subsequent trans- 
actions between the kingdoms of Europe down to the period of the 
French Revolution. Spain Avas not included in the pacification, 
and war still continued between that country and France. 

§5. The internal condition of France during the first few years 
of Anne of Austria's regency was, on the whole, tranquil and pros- 
perous. But the rapacity, prodigality, and misgovernment of 
Mazarin, whose ascendency over the queen was absolute, ere long 
involved the state in serious financial embarrassments, which pro- 
duced first discontent, then factious agitation, and at last a lament- 
able civil war. Richelieu had left the treasury well furnished, but 
these resources were speedily exhausted ; the expenses of carrying 
on the Avar wei-e enormous ; and, in order to procure fresh sup- 
plies, the court resorted to various expedients more or less op- 
pressive and obnoxious, under the advice of Emery, the clever but 
unprincipled surintendant of the finances. Among these was a 
tax upon all articles of merchandise brought for sale to the cap- 
ital, whether by land or water, levied indiscriminately upon all 
classes ; and it is curious that this impost, less open to objection 
than others on the score of equity, should have been the proximate 



A.D. 1648. ARREST OF BROUSSEL. 415 

cause of the violent disturbances wbicli followed. The Parlia- 
ment, after much stormy discussion, refused to register the edict 
establishing the new tariff. Anne of Austria, whose education 
under Spanish despotism made her furious at this opposition, caused 
the youthful Louis XIV. to hold a bed of justice to enforce sub- 
mission, but without effect ; the Parliament continued intractable, 
and showed a spirit of determined independence in criticising and 
controlling the acts of government. At last, in May, 1G48, the 
members of the four "cours souveraines" passed a measure, called 
the " Edict of Union," by which they formed themselves into a de- 
liberative assembly in a single chamber, for a general examination 
and reformation of the affairs of the state; and, although this edict 
was instantly annulled by the council of state, the new assembly 
proceeded to meet and deliberate in open defiance of the royal au- 
thority. 

Matters thus wore an alarming aspect : the Parliament had 
placed itself in direct and active antagonism to the crown. The 
Chamber of St. Louis, as it was called, voted several important 
m^sures of reform, and demanded of the queen the abolition of 
the office of provincial intendants, the reduction of the taille by 
one fourth, the entire suppression of arbitrary imprisonment, and 
the abandonment of all taxes which should not be submitted to 
free discussion in the Parliament of Paris, and legalized by the 
sanction of that body. Such was the thi'eatening attitude of this 
self-appointed Legislature, that the court was compelled partially 
to yield. The terrible scenes of the rebellion then passing in En- 
gland had doubtless their share in producing this result. Anne 
of Austria, after a violent ebullition of anger, consented to remove 
the intendants, to suppress several newly-created offices, and to 
remit an entire fourth part of the taille. But these concessions, 
instead of satisfying the agitators, only emboldened them to pro- 
ceed to greater lengths. The Parliament absolutely refused to 
discontinue its sessions in the Chamber of St. Louis, and symptoms 
of popular ferment and commotion became daily more and more 
manifest. Things were in this state when the news arrived of 
Conde's splendid victory at Lens; and the court, taking advant- 
age of the public rejoicings in honor of that event, suddenly ar- 
rested three of the chief leaders of the opposition in the Parlia- 
ment, Blancmesnil, Charton, and an aged councilor named Brous- 
sel. Charton found means to effect his escape (1648). 

This was the signal for a violent insurrectionary tumult through- 
out Paris. Chains were stretched across the pi-incipal streets; bar- 
ricades were thrown up ; the magistrates ordered the civic guard 
to arm ; and the Palais Royal was besieged by a countless multi- 
tude of enraged citizens, shouting " Liberty and Broussel !" The 



41G LOUIS XIV. Chai-. XX. 

Cardinal de Eetz, archbishop coadjutor of Paris, who up to this 
lime seems to liave taken no part in fomenting the sedition, pro- 
ceeded to the palace to represent to the queen the urgent peril of 
the moment, and to beseech her to satisfy the peojDle by releasing 
Broussel. Anne, who suspected him, answered with raillery and 
defiance. De Eetz withdrew in great irritation, and resolved forth- 
with to place himself at the head of the insurrection, a part for 
which his bold, turbulent character and popular talents eminently 
fitted him. Both sides organized their forces, and prej^ared for a 
decisive struggle on the morrow. 

§ 6. From the 27th of August, 1648, may be dated the. com- 
mencement of the civil war of the Fronde.* Regiments were 
marched to the palace at an early hour ; the populace, in armed 
masses, blockaded the streets. The Parliament went in a body 
to demand from the regent the liberation of the two members ; 
they were met by an angry refusal, and on quitting the palace 
were forcibly driven back by the infuriated multitude, who threat- 
ened Mole, the first president, with death, unless he returned either 
with Broussel or with Mazarin as a hostage. Anne of Austria 
was at length induced to submit, chiefly, it is said, by the coun- 
sels of the unfortunate Henrietta Maria of England. Orders were 
sent for the release of the prisoner; and Broussel, who was already 
far from Paris on the road to Sedan, re-entered the city on the 
following day, and was welcomed with indescribable manifesta- 
tions of popular joy and triumph. 

Outward order was now restored, but the agitation continued ; 
the Pai-liament was intractable and even insolent ; and the regent 
found her situation so uneasy, that she withdrew with the young 
king and Mazarin to Kueil. Through the intervention of the 
Prince of Conde an accommodation was brought about on the 
24th of October; and Anne, Avith tears in her .eyes, signed an act 
by which all the demands of the Chambers of St. Louis were un- 
conditionally granted, and wdiicli the queen described as suicidal 
to the royal authority. 

It was not long before Conde', disgusted with the arrogance and 
insubordination of the Parisians, combined with the court in an 
attempt to reduce them to obedience by force. Eight thousand 
troops were gathered round the capital ; on the 6th of Januar}', 
1649, the regent, with the king, the Duke of Orleans, and the rest 
of the royal family, retired secretly from Paris to St. Germains ; 
and a lettre de cachet was sent to the Parliament, commanding 
it to transfer its sittings to Montargis. This step threw Paris 
again into a state of tumult ; the Parliament declared Mazarin a 

* The Frondeui's were so called from being compared to the gamina of 
Paris, who fought each other in the streets with slings (Jrondc) and stones. 



A.D. 1649. ENGAGEMENT AT CHARENTON. 417 

disturber of the public peace and an enemy of the state, and ban- 
ished him fi'om the kingdom within eight days; contributions were 
levied, and forces hastily collected to oppose the army of Conde. 
The insignificant Prince of Conti, brother of Conde, was named 
general-in-chief for the Parliament ; a host of brilliant nobles 
commanded under him, including the Dukes of Beaufort, Elbceuf, 
Bouillon, Longueville, and La Rochefoucauld. The beautiful 
Duchesses of Longueville and Bouillon established themselves at 
the Hotel de Ville, and by their charms, their energy, and their 
talent for intrigue, acquired a paramount influence in the insur- 
rection. Most of the provincial Parliaments hastened to send in 
their adhesion to their brethren of the capital. 

Conde' disposed his troops in the villages near Paris ; and on 
the 8 th of February the Royalists attacked the Parliamentary gar- 
rison at Charenton, and cut them to pieces to the number of near- 
ly two thousand. This was the only serious engagement ; after a 
few weeks, spent rather in pamphleteering, caricaturing, and buf- 
foonery, than in more dangerous hostilities, the Parliament dis- 
patched a deputation to the regent, headed by the intrepid Presi- 
dent Mole, and conferences ensued at Rueil, which produced a 
temporary restoration of peace on the 11th of March, 1649. The 
disposition of the court to treat was increased, by the defection of 
Marshal Turenne, who now joined the Fronde, and promised to 
march his army to the relief of Paris. The insurgents were also 
encouraged by assurances of sympathy and succor from the Arch- 
duke Leopold, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. 

The news of the treaty was received with violent indignation 
by the Parliamentary leaders, and the deputies who had signed 
it, especially the President Mole, were several times in imminent 
danger of being massacred by the mob. Mazarin, however, con- 
trived to render it more palatable by modifying some of its pro- 
visions, and the Parliament at length consented to register it. 
The cai'dinal also succeeded in gaining over the principal officers 
of Turenne's army, who abandoned their general and declared for 
the court. Turenne, upon this, quitted France and withdrew 
into Holland. Anne of Austria, her son, and Mazarin, after a 
farther delay of some months, returned to Paris in August, 1649. 

§ 7. The contest was soon renewed under a difFei'ent phase. 
New difficulties beset the government from the overbearing dic- 
tatorial demeanor of the Prince of Conde, who, presuming on his 
services in the hour of peril, imagined that he might tyrannize as 
he pleased over the regent and her minister. His demands for 
himself and his friends became incessant and exorbitant, and 
threatened to absorb the whole patronage of the state. He treat- 
ed Mazarin, and even Anne herself, with coarse and insolent i-id- 

S2 



418 LOUIS XIV. . Chap. XX. 

icule ; and under the influence of his intriguing sister, Madame 
de Longueville, he formed a powerful faction among the disaffect- 
ed nobles, whom he flattered with hopes of a return to all their 
ancient independence and supremacy. This party, distinguished 
by its airs of afifectation and presumption, was called that of the 
" petits maitres," or the "young Fronde." Conde's conduct be- 
came at length intolerable, and the queen and Mazarin determined 
to express their resentment by a bold and severe stroke of author- 
ity. They secretly eflxjcted an understanding with the Cardinal 
de Retz, the Duke of Beaufort, and other leaders of the original 
Fronde ; and their support having been secured, the Prince of 
Conde, with his brother the Prince of Conti, and his brother-in- 
law the Duke of Longueville, were arrested in the council cham- 
ber on the 18th of January, 1650, and imprisoned at Vincennes. 

Disturbances broke out on all sides upon the news of this dar- 
ing coup d'e'tat. The partisans of Conde flew to arms in Bur- 
gundy, of which province the prince was governor; the Duke of 
Bouillon organized resistance in the Limousin and Guienne ; Tu- 
renne occupied the fortress of Stenay ; the Duchess of Longueville 
hurried to Normandy, where her husband had been governor, and 
labored with extraordinary energy, though with small success, to 
excite the people to rebellion. A royal army soon tranquilized 
Normandy; and the fair duchess, after many romantic and peril- 
ous adventures, made her escape into Holland, and thence proceed- 
ed to join Turenne at Stenay. The court met with equal success 
in Burgundy ; but the reduction of Guienne was a more difficult 
task. The high-spirited wife of Conde, Cle'mence de Maille, es- 
caped from Chantilly, traversed France, and, accompanied by the 
Dukes of Bouillon and La Rochefoucauld, threw herself into Bor- 
deaux with four thousand men. The Pai'liament and the inhab- 
itants received her with enthusiasm, and in the siege which fol- 
lowed she exhibited the most heroic courage. Bordeaux, how- 
ever, was compelled to capitulate on the 1st of October. The 
regent accorded a complete amnesty, and permitted the princess 
and her supporters to retire freely to their domains ; but the anx- 
ious supplications of Cle'mence for the liberation of her husband 
produced no effect. 

In the mean while Turenne, at the other extremity of the king- 
dom, had been joined by a Spanish force under the Archduke Leo- 
pold, and, entering Picardy, seized Le Catelet, Vervins, and Rlie- 
tel, and was marching upon Paris, when he heard that the princes 
had been removed, for greater security, to Havre. Marshal du 
Plessis-Praslin was now sent to besiege Rhetel, and Turenne rap- 
idly countermarched to relieve it. A battle was fought between 
the two marshals on the 15th of December, in which Turenne was 



A.D. 1650, IGol. KEVOLT OF CONDE. 4I9 

totally defeated, with the loss of half his force ; he fled with a few 
followers into Lorraine. 

The revolt now seemed to be suppressed ; but Mazarin congrat- 
ulated himself prematurely on his triumph. A reaction took place 
at Paris in favor of the imprisoned princes ; their friends coalesced, 
through the dexterous mediation of the coadjutor, with the original 
faction of Frondeurs, and the result was that the Parliament unani- 
mously addressed to the queen an urgent application for the re- 
lease of the illustrious captives. Anne replied evasively. Upon 
this the Duke of Orleans, who was entirely governed by De Eetz, 
placed himself at the head of the hostile combination against Ma- 
zarin ; the Parliament, violently exasperated, sent again to de- 
mand, in peremptory terms, the liberation of the princes, and, in 
addition, the banishment of the cardmal from the king's pi'esence 
and councils forever. Mazarin, dismayed and intimidated, gave 
way before the storm ; he quitted Paris privately on the night of 
the 8th of February, 1651, and proceeded to Havre. The queen, 
resolved at all hazards to support her favorite, made preparations 
to follow him with the young king, but her design transpired, and 
the leaders of the Fronde promptly caused the palace to be sur- 
rounded with troops, and satisfied themselves personally of the 
pi'esence of its inmates. Anne, burning with rage and shame, Avas 
compelled to disavoAV her purpose. Meanwhile the fugitive car- 
dinal reached Havre, and hastened to announce with his own lips 
to the three princes their restoration to liberty. He had hoped, 
probably, for an opportunity of making favorable terms with tliem ; 
but they treated him coldly, and set out forthwith for Paris. The 
discomfited Mazarin retired to Bruhl, in the electorate of Cologne, 
and from this place of exile kept up a constant corresjDondence 
with the queen, by means of which he continued to control all the 
movements of the court and the acts of the administration. 

§ 8. The Prince of Condc entered Paris in triumph ; but his 
presence, instead of producing tranquillity, added fresh fuel to the 
flames of discord. In the absence of the cardinal he had imagined 
that the whole power of government would remain in his hands ; 
but he found himself thwarted by the personal enmity of the queen, 
the superior astuteness of Mazarin, and the turbulent independ- 
ence of De Eetz, the Pai'liament, and the Frondeurs. After some 
months spent in cabals and struggles which we have not space to 
describe, the regent accused Conde before the Parliament of a 
traitorous correspondence with the court of Spain, and other dis- 
loyal acts : this irritated the haughty prince beyond endurance, 
and he hastily resolved to revenge himself upon the court by head- 
ing an armed rebellion. On the 30th of August, 1G51, he left 
Paris for Guienne, of which he had obtained the government; 



420 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XX. 

here he raised without difRculty a considerable force, with which 
he took possession of Saintes and the course of the Charente, and 
in November laid siege to Cognac. Meanwhile the regent declared 
her son Louis XIV. to have attained his majority, and the youth- 
ful king proceeded at the head of his army into Berry. The Count 
Harcourt was now detached against Conde, and succeeded in forc- 
ing him to raise the siege of Cognac, after which the prince re- 
treated to Bordeaux. 

In throwing himself into open revolt, Conde had taken precise- 
ly the step most fivvorable to the wily Mazarin, and paved the way 
for his restoration to power. Having levied a large body of mer- 
cenaries, the minister boldly re-entered France in December, 1651, 
and, braving the angry denunciations of the Parliament, joined the 
court, which Avas now established at Poitiers. Turenne, who had 
lately resumed his loyalty to the crown, was placed in command 
of the royal army, together with Marshal D'Hocquincourt ; and 
a desultory warfare followed, undistinguished by any events wor- 
thy of the splendid reputation of the two rival generals. The 
town of Orleans was held against the king by the celebrated Made- 
moiselle de Montpensier, daughter of Gaston, one of the most en- 
thusiastic of the many heroines of the Fronde. The royal army 
upon this ascended the Loire to Gien, followed by that of the 
rebels under the Dukes of Nemours and Beaufort, who took post 
at Montargis. On the 7th of April, 1652, a sudden attack was 
made at night upon Marshal D'Hocquincourt's quarters at Ble- 
neau ; and Turenne, obseiwing the rapidity and vigor of the oper- 
ations, instantly declared to his officers that the Prince of Conde 
in person must be in command of the opposite army. Such Avas 
indeed the fact ; Conde, perceiving that the main struggle must 
take place upon the Loire, had crossed the country with astonish- 
ing celerity from Agen, and, after escaping numberless perils, had 
safely reached the head-quarters of his party. The Royalists were 
severely handled at Bleneau ; but another action was fought next 
day, in which Turenne had the advantage ; and both armies then 
directed their march upon the capital. 

§ 9. Paris was at this moment a scene of utter confusion, dis- 
tracted by the agitation of the rival parties, and unable to declare 
itself decidedly for either. The ai'my of Condt-', having suffered 
another defeat at Etampes, encamped at St. Cloud on the 19th 
of June. The Royalists, under Turenne, ari'ived immediately aft- 
erward, and manoeuvred to turn the prince's position from the di- 
rection of Argenteuil, upon which Conde made a circuit of the 
eastern suburbs of Paris, and formed in order of battle in the 
Faubourg St. Antoine, his centre occupying the site of the present 
Place de la Bastile. A desperate battle was fought here on the 



A.D.1652. BATTLE OF ST. ANTOINE. 421 

2d of July. Turenne, attacked fiercely, pressed the Frondeurs 
hard, and maintained for some time a decided superiority. Conde 
displayed all his wonted gallantry and heroism, but his troops 
gradually lost ground, and were driven back in confusion upon 
the narrow streets of the faubourg. The fortune of the day was 
changed by the skill and resolution of Mademoiselle de Montpen- 
sier, who made her way into the Bastile, and caused the cannon 
of that commanding fortress to open upon the Royalists. At the 
same moment the Porte St. Antoine was thrown open by the citi- 
zens ; the troops of Conde' poured into the city ; the prince made 
a last charge to protect the retreat of his rear-guard ; and, when 
the whole of his army had passed through, the gates again swung 
back, and Turenne, balked of his victory, drew off slowly to St. 
Denis. 

The result of the battle of St. Antoine rendered Conde and his 
friends for a time masters of Paris. A bloody tumult took place 
two days afterward at the Hotel de Ville, in which several hund- 
red persons lost their lives ; the court, in terror, retired to Pci.- 
toise ; and the popular leaders, uniting with the party of tho 
princes, named the Duke of Orleans lieutenant general of the 
kingdom, Conde commander-in-chief of the army, Beaufort gov- 
ernor of Paris, and the councilor Broussel prevot des marchands. 
But by another sudden and inexplicable turn of affairs symptoms 
soon appeared of a strong desire for an accommodation, and for 
the return of the king to his capital. Mazarin, with character- 
istic tact, withdrew a second time beyond the fi'ontier, in order 
that his presence might be no obstacle to an arrangement; and 
the Parisians then approached their sovereign with a loyal depu- 
tation, entreating him to appear once more among them. Conde - 
found his influence completely undermined by the treacherous arts 
of the Cardinal de Retz : in deep disgust he quitted Paris on the 
13th of October, and joined the Spanish army under the Duke of 
Lorraine. Within a few days afterward Louis XIV,, with his 
mother and the court, escorted by Turenne, entered Paris amid 
the acclamations of the people, and took up their abode at the 
Louvre. A fresh edict of Amnesty Avas registered in a bed of jus- 
tice, from which, however, the Prince of Conde, the Duke of Beau- 
fort, and several other leaders of the Fronde, were specially ex- 
cepted. Conde was afterward tried, in his absence, by the Parlia- 
ment, aod sentenced to death as a traitor. The Duke of Orleans 
was ordered to retire to Blois, where he died in 1660. The Par- 
liament was strictly forbidden to occupy itself henceforth with 
the general affairs of state or the management of the finances. 
The arch-agitator De Eetz was arrested and sent to Vincennes, 
whence, however, he escaped in the course of the next year, and, 



422 LOUIS XIV. CiiAv. XX. 

after various wanderings, proceeded to Rome. He was permitted 
eventually to return to France, but passed the rest of his days in 
quiet obscurity, and died at Paris in 1679. 

Such was the revolt of the Fronde — one of the most obscure 
and perplexing portions of French history. Mazarin returned 
triumphantly to Paris in February, 1653 ; and the immediate re- 
sult of the insurrection was to confirm and prolong the power of 
this sagacious minister, whose misgovernment had been the orig- 
inal cause of its outbreak. Notwithstanding its peculiar charac- 
ter of levity and burlesque, the Fronde must be regarded as a 
memorable struggle of the aristocracy, supported by the judicial 
and municipal bodies, to control the despotism of the crown. 
Like the many similar attempts which preceded it, it failed ; and 
its effect upon the mind of the youthful Louis was such as to give 
a decided color to the whole of his subsequent career. He ruled 
France for sixty years as an absolute monarch, without the sha- 
dow of constitutional government : nor Avas any farther effort 
made to resuscitate the dormant liberties of the nation until the 
dawning of the great Kevolution. 

§ 10. The internal troubles of the kingdom being thus appeased, 
Mazarin turned his attention to the war Avith Spain, the course 
of which had lattei'ly been disadvantageous to France. Favored 
by the dissensions of the Fronde, the enemy had recovered Dun- 
kirk, Ypres, and Gravelines, as well as Barcelona and Casale ; 
and their army on the frontier of Picardy, now, unhappily, com- 
manded by the illustrious Conde, ravaged that province during 
the summer of 1653 as far as the banks of the Somme. Conde, 
however, met Avith a worthy antagonist in the great Turenne, who, 
with a force far inferior, arrested the prince's progress, drove him 
back to Cambrai, and kept him continually in check throughout 
the campaign. In 1654 the young king made his first essay in 
arms at the siege of Stenay ; and meanwhile Conde and Turenne 
measured swords at Arras, Avhich Avas iuA-ested by the prince and 
the Archduke Leopold Avith 25,000 Spaniards. The siege was 
conducted Avith consummate talent and vigor ; but on the 25th 
of August Turenne succeeded in forcing the Spanish lines, when 
Conde', having suffered great losses, found himself compelled to 
abandon the siege and retreat, leaving 3000 prisoners in the hands 
of the French. The hostilities of the year 1655 took place chiefly 
in Hainault, between the Sambre and Meuse, and were of no great 
importance. The following year Avas signalized by the siege of 
Valenciennes by Turenne, when Conde, by one of his most daring 
exploits, fell suddenly upon the division of Marshal de la Fcrte, 
Avliich was separated from the main army and routed it Avith ter- 
rible slaughter, taking pi-isoner tlie marshal himself, Avith most of 



A.D. 165G-1G59. WAR WITH SPAIN. 423 

Lis ofRcei-s, and four thousand men. The contest between these 
great masters of the art of war was prolonged with fluctuating 
and indecisive fortune, until at length a treaty negotiated by Maz- 
arin with the Protector Cromwell, which secured the co-operation 
of England against Spain, turned the ballance in favor of the royal 
ai'ms of France. In 1G56 Marshal Turenne, re-enforced by a di- 
vision of six thousand English under General Reynolds, captured 
Montmedy, St. Venant, and Mardyke, which latter fortress was 
placed in the possession of the English. Early in the following 
spring the allies proceeded to blockade Dunkirk ; the Spaniards, 
under Conde and Don John of Austria, marched to its relief; and 
Turenne advanced unexpectedly to attack them before they could 
complete their dispositions among the dunes, or sand-hills which 
suri'ound that town. " Were you ever in a battle V asked Conde 
of the young Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I., who had join- 
ed him as a volunteer. The prince answered in the negative. 
"Well," returned Conde, irritated by the incapacity and obstinacy 
of the Spaniards, " in the course of half an hour you will see us 
lose one." His words were fully verified : the Spanish ai'my was 
totally overthrown, and dispersed in all directions. The battle of 
the Downs (June 14, 1658) produced the immediate surrender of 
Dunkirk, which town was ceded to England. Turenne afterward 
captured Gravelines, overran Flanders, and carried his victorious 
standards within two days' march of Brussels. 

The court of Spain was induced by this train of reverses to 
think seriously of effecting a pacification ; and these views were 
furthered by a league which Mazarin now formed with the Elect- 
or of Bavaria and other princes of Germany for the maintenance 
of the treaty of Westphalia, a- combination by which Spain was 
virtually isolated from the rest of Europe. The first overtures 
for peace Avere made in October, 1658, when Philip IV. proposed 
the hand of his daughter the Infanta Maria Theresa in marriage 
to the King of France. This offer was accepted with alacrity, 
although Louis was at this moment violently enamored of Maria 
di Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, whom at one time he se- 
riously purposed to raise to the throne. The minister, with re- 
markable and disinterested integrity, negatived ' this project, re- 
moved the young lady for a time froni court, and earnestly pur- 
sued the negotiations for the treaty with Spain. He proceeded in 
July, 1659, to St. Jean de Luz ; the prime minister of Spain, Don 
Luis de Haro, repaired to Fontarabia ; and conferences ensued 
between them, which were held in the small " Isle of Pheasants," 
on the Bidassoa, the stream which separates the two kingdoms. 
One of the chief difiiculties of the arrangement was that which 
concerned the Prince of Conde'. Spain stipulated positively for 



424 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XX. 

his reconciliation to the court, and complete reinstatement in his 
possessions and dignities. Mazarin resisted long, and only yielded 
the point on a threat from the Spanish minister that an indepen- 
dent principality should be formed for Conde in Flanders. The 
prince received a full pardon, and was restored to his government 
of Burgundy. 

§ 11. The Peace of the Pyrenees was signed on the 7th of No- 
vember, 1659. The Spanish Infanta was contracted to the King 
of France, Avith a marriage portion of five hundred thousand 
crowns, in consideration of which she made an absolute renunci- 
ation of all claims upon the. royal inheritance of her family. All 
issue of the marriage, and their descendants, "were expressly barred 
from the possibility of succeeding to the Spanish crown. France 
acquired by this treaty the Spanish territory of Artois, together 
with the towns of Gravelines, Landrecies, Tliionville, Montmedy, 
Avesnes, and some others. Roussillon and Cerdagne, the fruits 
of Kichelieu's triumphs, were also ceded to her in full possession. 
Lorraine was nominally restored to its legitimate duke, but in 
point of fact remained annexed to the French crown. Thus 
France might regard with just pride and satisfaction the result 
of her protracted warfare with both those branches of the mighty 
house of Austria. By the treaty of the Pyrenees, combined with 
the advantages previously obtained by the peace of Westphalia, 
she succeeded to that preponderance in Europe which had been 
enjoyed for a century and a half by the rival dynasty. . 

Louis XIV. and his mother, attended by Mazarin and a bril- 
liant court, proceeded to St. Jean de Luz in May, 1G60; and, 
after a stately interview between the sovereigns at the Isle of 
Pheasants, the Infanta was placed in the hands of her future 
consort, and the marriage was celebi'ated in the church of St. 
Jean de Luz, with extraordinary splendor, on the 9th of June. 

The Peace of the Pyrenees and the marriage of Louis mark the 
culminating point of the ministry of Mazarin, who had thus real- 
ized all the favorite objects of his policy. But, like his predeces- 
sor Richelieu, the hour of triumph found him rapidly drawing near 
to the grave ; he labored under a complication of diseases, which 
proved fatal within a few months after the return of the court to 
Paris. On receiving from the physicians an intimation that his 
case was desperate, Mazarin caused himself to be removed to the 
chateau of Vincennes, and prepared to meet death with a firm 
countenance. Retaining to the last his almost paternal authority 
over the young king, he furnished Louis with a complete code of 
instructions for his future government, and recommended to him 
as his principal ministers Le Tellier, Fouquet, Lionne, and the 
great Colbert, who was at that time intendant of the cardinal's 



A.D. 1661. DEATH OF CARDINAL MAZARIN. 425 

household. Mazarin expired, with great appearance of devotion, 
on the 8th of March, 1661, at the age of fifty-nine. 

The besetting vice of this celebrated statesman was his love of 
money, which was unparalleled and insatiable. He had accumu- 
lated, by the most discreditable means, a private fortune amount- 
ing to fifty millions of francs, representing at least double that 
sum according to the present value of money. These immense 
riches were chiefly distributed among his nephews and nieces, for 
all of whom he had secured splendid alliances and lucrative dig- 
nities and ofiices. Four of his nieces were married respectively 
to the Prince of Conti, the Duke of Modena, the Constable Co- 
lonna, and the Duke de la Meilleraie ; one of his nephews was 
Duke of Nivernois. To counterbalance this odious rapacity, Ma- 
zarin possessed a refined and liberal taste for learning and the 
arts, and left behind him three conspicuous and lasting monu- 
ments of his munificence — the " College des Quatre Nations" (now 
the Institute of France), the magnificent " Mazarine" Library, and 
the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, 




r L* ^ * 



Isle of Pheasants, in the lliver Bidassoa, the boundary of France and Spain. 
(See p. 423.) 







CHAPTER XXI. 

REIGN or LOUIS XIV. CONTINUED. II. FROM THE DEATH OF CARDINAL 
MAZARIN TO THE PEACE OF RYSWICK, A.D. 1661-1697. 

§ 1. Character of Louis XIV. ; he assumes the Government in Person. § 2. 
The Surintendant Fouqiiet ; Colbert Minister of Finance. § 3. Sale of 
Dunkirk ; Alliance with Holland ; War with England ; Treatj^ of Breda. 
§ 4. Louis lays Claim to the Spanish Netherlands; Invasion of Flanders ; 
the Triple Alliance ; Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. § 5. War with the United 
Provinces of Holland ; Passage of the Rhine ; Successes of the French ; 
the Prince of Orange proclaimed Stadtholder. .§ 6. Successful Defense of 
Holland ; Louis abandons his Conquests. § 7. Campaign of Turenne in 
Alsace ; Battle of SeneiFe ; Death of Turenne. § 8. Retirement of the 
great Conde; Naval Victories ; Successes of Marshal Cre'quy. § 9. Cap- 
tui-e of Ghent and Ypres ; Peace of Nimeguen. § 10. Glory of Louis 
XIV. ; his Aggressions ; Seizure of Strasburg ; Truce of Ratisbon. §11. 

■ Private Character and Life of Louis; Madame de Maintenon, Louvois, 
and Le Tellier ; Persecution of the Protestants : the Dragonnades. §12. 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. § 13. League of Augsburg; Expedi- 
tion of the Prince of Orange to England. § 14. Louis declares War; the 
French ravage the Palatinate ; the Grand Alliance. § 15. French Ex- 
pedition to Ireland ; Battles of Bantry Bay, Beachy Head, and the Boyne. 
§ 16. Victory of Fleurus ; Death of Louvois ; Naval Battle in the Chan- 
nel ; Disaster of La Hogue; Death of James II. § 17. Capture of Na- 
mur ; Battles of Steinkirk and Neerwinden ; Naval Action in Lagos Bay. 
§ 1 8. Death of Marshal Luxemburg ; Recapture of Namur ; Treaty with 
the Duke of Savoy; Peace of Ryswick. 



A.D. 1661. CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV. 427 

§ 1. The first act of Louis after the death of Mazarin was to 
assemble his council, and announce his intention to assume per- 
sonally the supreme direction of affairs. Hitherto, he said, he 
had been content to leave the conduct of the government in the 
hands of the cardinal ; but henceforvs^ard he enjoined the chancel- 
lor, and other chief functionaries both in Church and State, to 
. take their instructions solely from himself. The king was in 
many respects well qualified for such a task. He possessed a 
sound, though not a brilliant intellect ; a firm, resolute will ; con- 
siderable sagacity and penetration ; much aptitude for business, 
and indefatigable industry and perseverance. Mazarin estimated 
him highly: "There is enough in him," said he, "to make four 
kings and one honest man." His powers of application were re- 
markable. During the whole of his reign he labored regularly in 
his cabinet for eight hours every day. 

Louis had imbibed the most extravagant ideas of the nature 
and extent of the royal prerogative. Eegarding his authority as 
delegated immediately from heaven, he aimed to concentrate in 
himself individually all the powers and functions of government. 
The sovereign, in his view, was not only the guardian and dispens- 
er, but the fountain and author of all law and all justice. This 
theory he was accustomed to express in the well-known apoph- 
thegm, " The state is myself" (" I'e'tat, c'est moi"). And the pe- 
culiar position in which he found the kingdom — the power of the 
great nobles having been broken up by Richelieu, while the mag- 
istracy and the Parliament had sunk into insignificance during 
the distractions of the Fronde — enabled him almost literally to 
verify this lofty maxim. Never in the history of the world was 
there a more complete, nor, on the whole, a more favorable or suc- 
cessful specimen of absolute, irresponsible monarchy, than that es- 
tablished by Louis XIV. 

§ 2. The king commenced by a rigid examination of the state 
of the public finances, which were found to have fallen into lam- 
entable disorder through the maladministration of the surintend- 
ant Nicholas Fouquet. Fouquet was a man of great ability and 
brilliant reputation, especially as a patron of letters and the arts, 
but he had scandalously abused his office, falsified the public ac- 
counts, squandered the revenue in reckless profusion, and enriched 
himself by shameless peculation. No less a sum than eighteen 
millions of livres had been lavished on his princely chateau of 
Vaux-Praslin near Melun ; and an entertainment given at that 
residence, in a style of more than regal magnificence, was so of- 
fensive to Louis, that the minister's disgrace was from that mo- 
ment determined. Fouquet was arrested in September, 1661, and 
sent to the Bastile. A commission was appointed for his trial, 



428 ■ LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

but three years elapsed before the sentence was pronounced. His 
mortal enemies, Colbert and Le Tellier, labored to procure a cap- 
ital conviction, but the court condemned him only to banishment 
for life. Louis, with needless cruelty, changed the punishment 
into that of perpetual imprisonment in the fortress of Pignerol. 
Here the unfortunate Fouquet languished till his death, a period 
of nineteen years. He was succeeded as minister of finance by 
the famous Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who also directed the depart- 
ments of commerce, agriculture, and public works. 

This great minister, by dint of extraordinary genius and untir- 
ing labor, succeeded in effecting a radical reform of the finances. 
Things had lapsed into the same state of confusion as before the 
ministry of Sully. The revenue was exhausted by anticipation ; 
the national debt amounted to four hundred and fifty millions of 
livres ; out of eighty-four millions paid in taxes, only thirty-two 
millions were received by the treasury, while the yearly expendi- 
ture reached fifty-two millions. In the course of a few years Col- 
bert raised the gross income of the treasury to upward of one 
hundred millions, of which more than ninety millions were paid 
net into the public coffers. The rentes, or annuities paid by the 
state, together with other outgoings, were, during the same period, 
reduced by nearly one half; and the total expenditure never ex- 
ceeded fifty millions. This result was obtained in some measure 
by an augmentation of the taxes, especially of the excise duties ; 
but it must be mainly attributed to systematic economy, and to 
the exercise of strict and vigilant control over all the infei'ior of- 
ficers of the government. 

§ 3. Peace was maintained in Europe during the first years of 
the administration of Louis ; but the king employed this period in 
forming new plans and combinations for the aggrandizement of 
France, keeping in view as his main object the dismemberment of 
Spain by annexing to his dominions her possessions in the Low 
Countries. Mazarin had been secretly actuated by ambitious proj- 
ects upon the Spanish monarchy in negotiating the treaty of the 
Bidassoa and the king's mariiage with the Lifanta ; and the for- 
eign policy of Louis was steadily directed toward the same end 
throughout his reign. Hence he eagerly supported the Portu- 
guese, who had lately thrown off the Spanish yoke, and induced 
Charles II. of England to follow his example. This led to Charles's 
marriage Avith Catharine of Braganza, and to that of Philip, Duke 
of Orleans, brother of Louis, with the Princess Henrietta of En- 
gland. In oi'der farther to conciliate Charles, who was in urgent 
need of money, Louis concluded with him a bargain for the sale 
of Dunkirk ; and, in consideration of five millions of livres, that 
important sea-port was reannexed to the French crown in No- 



A.D. 1662-1667. ALLIANCE WITH HOLLAND. 429 

vember, 16G2. His next step was to sign an alliance offensive 
and defensive with the United Provinces of Holland, so as to pre- 
vent their forming a coalition with Spain in case of a rupture. 

About the same time, Louis gave a proof of his haughty and 
imperious temper on the occasion of a quarrel between his em- 
bassador in England, the Count D'Estrades, and the Spanish en- 
voy at the same court, who had insisted on taking precedence of 
the representative of France at a diplomatic reception. Louis re- 
called his embassador from Madrid, demanded full and immediate 
reparation, and threatened war in case of refusal. Philip IV. 
made an unqualified submission, and, in the presence of the whole 
diplomatic body assembled at Fontainebleau, his embassador de- 
clared that the Spanish agents would no longer contest the pre- 
tensions of the crown of France. A similar mortification was in- 
flicted in the course of the same year on the court of Rome. The 
French embassador having been insulted by some of tli^ Pope's 
Corsican guai'd. Innocent X. was compelled to offer an apology, 
to disband his guard, and to erect an obelisk at Rome with an 
inscription recording the offense and its punishment. 

Hostilities having broken out in 1665 between England and 
Holland, the Dutch appealed for succor to their ally the King 
of France. Louis hesitated ; he was unwilling to abandon his 
connection with Charles, while the English king, on his part, la- 
bored to detach him from his engagements with the republic, of- 
fering him carte hlanche in his projects against Spain if he would 
only abstain from co-operating with the States. After vainly en- 
deavoring to mediate, Louis dispatched a division of six thousand 
troops to Holland, and declared war against England on the 16th 
of January, 1666. The chief events of the contest which ensued 
were the naval battles between the English and the Dutch, in 
which Louis took no part, the French marine being at that time 
in a very feeble and depressed condition. In the summer of 1667 
England Avas thrown into consternation by the appearance of the 
Dutch fleet in the Thames and the Medway. Charles hastened 
to make overtures for peace, and a treaty was concluded at Breda 
between England, France, and Holland, on the 31st of July, 1667, 
England restoring to the French certain conquests made in the 
West Indies and in North America. 

§ 4. Louis, however, had in the mean time embarked in a more 
serious contest, the first-fruits of his long-cherished designs of ag- 
gression against Spain. 

Philip IV. of Spain expired in September, 1665, leaving, by his 
second wife, an only son, who succeeded to the thi'one as Charles 
II. The French king immediately laid claim to Brabant, Flan- 
ders, and the whole of the Spanish possessions in tlie Low Coun- 



430 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

tries, founding liis title upon a local law or custom called the 
"Droit de devolution," by which the daughters of a first mar- 
riage inherited in preference to the male issue of a second. The 
question was debated during several months by diplomacy. The 
court of Spain maintained that the usage referred to was merely 
a civil regulation, and did not apply to transactions between sov- 
ereigns, or to the transmission of the dominions of the crown ; 
and, moreover, that the Queen of France was precluded from ad- 
vancing any such claim by the act of renunciation which she had 
executed at her marriage. To this Louis rejoined, that the re- 
nunciation was null and void, inasmuch as the dowry of Maria 
Theresa, upon which it depended, had never been paid ; and that, 
since the Netherlands were, strictly speaking, the family property 
of the Spanish princes, they ought to be governed by the same 
laws which settled the succession to other private estates. 

In such a case it was sufficient to produce arguments which 
were tolerably specious, for Louis had fully determined before- 
hand to support his reasoning by force of arms. On the 24th of 
May, 1667, the main body of the French army, commanded by 
Turenne, crossed the Flemish frontier, and overran the province 
with little or no opposition, the towns of Charleroi, Tournay, 
Ath, Courtrai, and I)ouai surrendering almost at the first sum- 
mons. Lille resisted for some weeks, but submitted to the king 
in person on the 28th of August. Louis, instead of pushing his 
conquests farther, now concluded a truce for three months with 
the Spaniards, and returned to Paris. 

The ambitious character and rapid success of the French mon- 
ai'ch quickly excited the alarm of Europe, especially of England 
and Holland ; and negotiations ensued between these two powei-s, 
Avith the view of forming a defensive coalition against France. 
By the dexterous and able agency of Sir William Temple, the fa- 
mous treaty called the Triple Alliance was signed at the Hague 
on the 2od of January, 1068, between England, Holland, and 
Sweden, by which the contracting parties interposed to mediate 
a peace between France and Spain, with a threat of hostilities in 
case of refusal. They engaged to obtain from Spain the cession 
of all the jjlaces already conquered by France, vipon which condi- 
tion Louis was to forego all farther claim against Spain in right 
of his queen. Louis, before receiving the official communication 
of this treaty, had suddenly undertaken, in the depth of winter, 
an expedition against Franche-Comte. Twenty thousand men 
were secretly assembled under the Prince of Conde, who, pressing 
his operations Avith unexampled rapidity, forced Besan^on to ca- 
pitulate on the 7th of February, and reduced the whole county 
to submission witliin fifteen days. Af!er this startling and S))len- 



A.D. 1G68-1G70. WAR WITH HOLLAND. 431 

did exploit Louis consented to negotiate for peace ; and the treaty 
of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed on tlie 2d of May, 1668. Spain 
surrendered to France all her conquests on the Sambre, the Scheldt, 
the Scai-pe, and the Lys, together with Bergues and Furnes on the 
sea-coast ; France restored Franche-Comte, but in a defenseless 
state, its principal fortresses having been dismantled. The integ- 
rity of the rest of the Spanish territories was guaranteed by the 
Triple Alliance, as well as by the emperor and other powers of 
Germany. 

§ 5. The wounded pride of Louis never forgave the Dutch Re- 
public for joining a confederacy which had pi^esumed to set bounds 
to his career of conquest. His resentment is said to have been 
heightened by a bombastic medal struck on the occasion in Hol- 
land, and by the arrogant behavior of Van Benningen, the Dutch 
embassador. War with the States was fully resolved on in the 
king's mind from the moment of his signing the treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle ; and he was encouraged in the scheme by the ministers 
Louvois and Colbert, who urged that, in order to reduce the Span- 
ish Netherlands, it was essential, in the first place, to humble and 
subdue the provinces of Holland. As a preliminary measure, 
Louis now proceeded to intrigue with Charles of England for the 
dissolution of the Triple Alliance. Charles, notwithstanding his 
recent policy, hated the Dutch in reality no less cordially than 
Louis himself. Liberty Avas odious to him ; he longed to become 
a despotic monarch ; and he was secretly more than half a convert 
to Eomanism. Moreover, he was constantly in extreme distress 
for money ; and an advantageous ti'eaty with the French king of- 
fered the most pi'omising means of replenishing his coffers, and thus 
making him independent of his Parliament, which grew more and 
more parsimonious. These considerations rendered Charles a will- 
ing listener to the propositions of the court of France. After 
some previous negotiation, the amiable and fascinating Henrietta 
of Orleans, Charles's sister, who possessed much influence over 
him, arrived at Dover on a secret mission in May, 1670, and a 
treaty was shortly afterward concluded, the provisions of which, 
discreditable to both sovereigns, must cover the memory of Charles 
with peculiar and eternal infamy. He engaged to abandon his 
late allies, and join Louis in invading Holland, furnishing a con- 
tingent of six thousand men and a fleet of fifty sail ; he was also 
to make a public profession of the Roman Catholic religion, and 
propagate it to the utmost of his power in his dominions. As the 
price of these disgraceful acts of treachery, Charles was to receive 
from Louis an annual subsidy of three millions (£120,000) during 
the war, together with the island of Walcheren, and two fortresses 
on the Scheldt, as his share of the spoil. Louis, raorever, cove^ 



432 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

nantecl to assist liim with men and money in case of rebellion in 
England in consequence of his change of faith. This transaction 
was closely followed by the sudden death of the Duchess of Or- 
leans, who expired almost immediately after her return to France, 
under circumstances which excited strong suspicions of poison. 
The deed was imputed to her husband, probably without reason, 
and the mystery has never been cleared up. 

Having obtained pi-omises of neutrality from Sweden and the 
emperor, and of active co-operation from the Electors of Hanover 
and Cologne and the Bishop of Munster, Louis commenced his 
unjust and impolitic war with Holland in April, 1G72. His main 
army, commanded nominally by himself in person, but really di- 
rected by Conde and Turenne, crossed the Meuse near Maestricht, 
and, advancing to the banks of the Rhine, attacked at the same 
time Wesel and three other frontier towns, which all submitted in 
the course of a few days. The famous passage of the Rhine — an 
exploit celebrated in the most extravagant terms of adulation by 
file French courtiers — took place on the 12th of June. It was, 
in reality, no very wonderful achievement. Conde was wounded, 
and the young Duke of Longueville killed in the opei'ation, but 
the invaders suffered little loss, the Hollanders having no force 
on the spot capable of serious resistance. The States were indeed 
at this moment in a miserably defenseless condition ; their fleet 
was powei-ful, and worthily commanded by the gallant De Kuy- 
ter ; but the army had been totally neglected, and it was with 
great difficulty that twenty-five thousand men could be collected, 
and placed under the command of William, prince of Orange, then 
a young man twenty-two years of age. The civil dissensions be- 
tween the adherents of the house of Orange and the democratical 
party headed by the pensionary De Witt rendered the circumstan- 
ces of the Republic still more critical. The passage of the Rhine 
having exposed the whole of the western provinces to the torrent 
of invasion, the nation was seized with universal paiiic. The 
prince abandoned his position on the Yssel, and fell back upon 
Utrecht, and thence into the interior of Holland ; Guelderland, 
Overyssel, and Utrecht were immediately occupied by the French 
without the slightest resistance, and they penetrated to Muyden, 
within four leagues of Amsterdam. The Dutch, driven to des- 
peration, now contemplated a project for transporting the whole 
population, on board their ships of war, to their distant settlements 
in the East Indies. The animosity of the rival factions became 
more violent than ever ; and John de Witt, fearing the complete 
triumph of the aristocrats, determined to send a deputation to 
Louis to treat for conditions of peace. His propositions, though 
piillicieiidy jiumblc, were sternly rejected, through the influence of 



A.D. 1672, 1673. SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF HOLLAND. 433 

Louvois, the French minister of war. The haughty conqueror de- 
manded the cession of northern Bi'abant and Flanders, and all the 
Dutch possessions south of the Meuse and the Wahal, together 
with twenty millions of livres for the expenses of the war, great 
commercial advantages, and the public and free exercise of the 
Catholic religion. Upon the receipt of these outrageous terms a 
terrible explosion of popular wrath burst forth against the pension- 
ary ; and a revolution followed, which placed the Prince of Orange 
at the head of affairs as stadtholder. The two brothers De Witt 
were brutally mui'dered by the populace on the 27th of August ; 
and William, thus left dictator, energetically employed all the re- 
sources of his genius and patriotism in the defense of his country. 
§ 6. From that moment the fortunes of Holland took a different 
turn. The vast sluiees were opened, and the whole district in the 
neighborhood of Amsterdam laid under water ; the fleet entered 
the Texel to protect the capital by sea ; the triumphant progress 
of the enemy was suddenly arrested, and the Kepublic gained time 
to pi'ovide against future attacks. The Stadtholder succeeded in 
forming an alliance with the powerful Elector of Brandenburg, to 
v/hich the Emperor Leopold, notwithstanding his secret engage- 
ment with France, soon afterward declared his adhesion ; and, in 
consequence, an army of forty thousand Germans, commanded by 
the famous Montecuculi, marched upon the Ehine. Here, how- 
ever, they were confronted by Turenne, whose masterly manoeu- 
vres gave him the superiority at every point where they attempt- 
ed the passage of the river. The Elector of Brandenburg lost pa- 
tience, separated from the imperialists, and retired to his own do- 
minions, pursued by the indefatigable Turenne to the banks of the 
Elbe. In 1673 Louis again penetrated into Holland at the head 
of thirty thousand men, and captured the important fortress of 
Maestricht ; but France was now menaced by an imposing coali- 
tion between the empire, Spain, the States-General, and Several 
of the German princes, and the contest began to assume the pro- 
portions of a European war. The Prince of Orange took the of- 
fensive, invested and reduced Naarden after twelve days' siege, 
gained the Rhine, and effected his junction with the forces of Mon- 
tecuculi, in spite of all the efforts of Turenne. The combined ar- 
mies then besieged Bonn ; the French were unable to arrive in 
time to relieve it, and the place surrendered on the 12th of No- 
vember. This gave the allies the command of the Rhine, and 
they immediately occupied the territories of Cologne and Munster. 
Sevei'al desperate naval engagements were fought during the war, 
especially one in Solebay, in May, 1672, between the English and 
French navies under the Duke of York and the Comte D'Estre'es, 
and the Dutch under De Ruyter, but in each case without deci- 

T 



434 LOUIS UlY. CuAP. XXL 

sive result. Ei'e long the British Parliament, indignant at the 
degrading terms of Charles's connection with Louis, forced him to 
detach himself from the French alliance, and peace was signed be- 
tween England and Holland in P'ebruary, 1674. The tide thus 
turned against Louis, who found it necessary to abandon all his 
conquests, and fall back toward his own frontiers, retaining only 
the towns of Grave and Maestricht. Holland was saved. 

§ 7. The theatre of war was now entirely changed. In May, 
1674, the King of France in person suddenly invaded Franche- 
Corate', and reduced it to complete submission, for the second time, 
before the beginning of July. Turenne, with a very inadequate 
force, was opposed to the Imperialists in Alsace. He crossed the 
Khine at Philipsburg, and, encountering the enemy at Sintzheim 
on the 16th of June, routed them with a loss of more than two 
thousand men, and drove them back beyond the Neckar. It was 
after this victory that Turenne disgraced his name by barbarously 
ravaging the Palatinate, which was abandoned to the ferocious 
license of his troops, and soon became a scene of indescribable 
desolation. The inhabitants retaliated by frightful excesses upon 
all French soldiers caught straggling from the main army. 

At length the Imperialists in their turn forced the passage of 
the Rhine at Mayence, and encamped between Spires and Phihps- 
burg. Upon this the minister Louvois directed Turenne to evac- 
uate Alsace ; but the marshal appealed directly to the king, and 
Louis had the good sense to support his views. Turenne main- 
tained his post, and, though the enemy gained possession of Stras- 
burg, and threatened to advance upon Lorraine, the French com- 
mander attacked them with brilliant success at Entsheim on the 
4 th of October, and drove them back to Strasburg. He next took 
up a strong position near Saverne, which the allies, though with 
immensely superior numbers, attempted in vain to force ; they re- 
treated, with the intention of distributing themselves in Avinter 
quarters in Alsace. Turenne now executed a memorable march 
across the Vosges Mountains in the depth of winter ; and, con- 
centrating his army at Belfort on the 27th of December, fell sud- 
denly upon the flank of the astonished Germans, who imagined 
him to be fifty leagues off, routed them in a series of encounters at 
Muhlhausen, Ensisheim, and Colmar, and finally compelled them 
to repass the Rhine at Strasburg on the 11th of January, 1675. 
This extraordinary campaign in Alsace is considered the master- 
piece of Turenne's genius. The marshal's return to Paris was an 
uninterrupted ovation, and he was received in the capital witli 
unbounded transports of enthusiasm. 

In the mean while the Prince of Conde had been placed in 
command of thirty-five thousand men on the frontier of Hainault, 



A.D. 1674, 1675. DEATH OF TURENNE. 435 

to make head against the combined Imperialist and Dutch forces 
under the Prince of Orange. Finding his position at Charleroi 
unassailable, the allies mo\ ed in the direction of Mons, thus ex- 
posing their flank, an error of which Conde took advantage with 
his usual sagacity and promptitude. A desperate battle was fought 
at the village of Seneffe on the 11th of August, 1674, in which, 
after fearful carnage, victory inclined to the side of the French ; 
but "William of Orange, with the steady self-possession of a vet- 
eran commander, took up a new and stronger position, and re- 
newed the battle with tremendous fury in the afternoon. The 
fighting lasted till midnight; the field was heaped with twenty 
thousand corpses ; but the general result of the day was uncer- 
tain. The allies afterward captured Grave, Huy, and Dinant, 
and thus obtained a slight superiority before the close of the cam- 
paign. 

Louis took the offensive with overwhelming numbers in the 
spring of 1675. The Austrian general Montecuculi manoeuvred 
for several weeks to bring Turenne to action on the Kintzig, be- 
yond Strasburg, but in vain. At length the Imperialist com- 
mander retired and marched southward; on the 27th of July the 
two armies came in sight near the entrance of the defile of Sass- 
bach, and a general engagement seemed inevitable. As Turenne 
advanced to the front of his lines to make his last dispositions for 
the attack, he was struck by a spent cannon-ball from the enemy's 
batteries, and fell dead on the spot. This irreparable loss could 
not be concealed from the soldiers ; dejection and dismay spread 
through their ranks ; and the general who succeeded to the com- 
mand was forced immediately to retreat. After a sanguinary 
combat at Altenheim the French recrossed the Rhine into Alsace. 

The illustrious Turenne was honored with a sumptuous funer- 
al, and interred, amid the tears of the whole nation, in the royal 
sepulchre of St. Denis. His remains have since been transferred 
to the church of the Invalides at Paris. 

§ 8. There was but one man in France who could be sent to 
replace the great Turenne. This was the Prince of Conde', who, 
besides his personal qualifications, possessed an intimate acquaint- 
ance with the tactics and plans of the departed hero. Conde, on 
taking the command in Alsace, found that Montecuculi had al- 
ready passed the Rhine at Strasburg, and was besieging Hague- 
nau. He soon relieved that place, and arrested the farther prog- 
ress of the enemy ; but, in accordance with the system of Turenne, 
be eluded the efforts of the Austrians to bring him to a general 
action ; and Montecuculi, abandoning Alsace, retired into winter 
quarters around Spires. This was the last campaign of the great 
Conde. Increasing infirmities warned him that he was no longer 



436 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

capable of directing the operations and enduring the fatigues of 
Avar ; on quitting the army he took up his abode at Chantilly, and 
passed the latter years of his life in comparative privacy. He 
died in 1686. 

The year 1676 was chiefly remarkable for some naval successes 
of the French in the Mediterranean. The distinguished Admiral 
Duquesne engaged and defeated the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter 
off the island of Stromboli on the 7th of January. A few weeks 
later another terrible battle was fought near Catania, in which the 
gallant De Euyter was slain ; and the victorious Duquesne then 
sailed for Palermo, where a third action, on the 2d of June, termi- 
nated in the complete triumph of the French. These victories 
led to no permanent result, but they added greatly to the reputa- 
tion of the French navy, and for a time the flag of Louis was 
without a rival in the Mediterranean. 

The operations of the campaign by land were of minor impor- 
tance. Although deprived of his greatest generals by the fall of 
Turenne and the retirement of Conde, Louis still possessed sever- 
al officers of superior talent — the Duke of Luxemburg, Marshals 
Crequy, Schomberg, and D'Estrades, and, above all, Vauban, a 
consummate master of the art of engineering. The French were 
successful in some sieges on the Flemish frontier, but Luxemburg 
was beaten by the Imperialists in the Palatinate, and lost the im- 
portant fortress of Philipsburg. In the spring of 1677 Louis pro- 
ceeded in person to invest Valenciennes, with Luxemburg and 
Vauban. The town capitulated, to the great astonishment of the 
besiegers, on the first assault, and the vainglorious Louis appro- 
priated to himself all the credit of the achievement. Cambrai 
and St. Omer were next forced to submission, and the Duke of 
Orleans, assisted by Luxemburg, gained a brilliant victory over 
the Prince of Orange at Cassel on the 11th of April. The honor 
of the French arms was maintained on the German fi-ontier by 
the Mare'chal de Crequy, who defeated the Duke of Lorraine at 
Kochersberg, near Strasburg, and captured Freyburg, capital of 
the Breisgau, on the 16th of November. This campaign, in which 
Crequy rivaled the scientific combinations of Turenne, at once ob- 
tained for the marshal a first-rate military reputation, and pro- 
duced a great sensation both in France and in foreign countries. 

§ 9. Thus, notwithstanding various partial checks and failures, 
the arms of Louis had, on the whole, acquired a decided superior- 
ity during a struggle of six years' duration. -A congress had been 
opened at Nimeguen, under the mediation of Sweden, in 1675 ; 
and the Dutch, who had been reduced to the verge of ruin by the 
tremendous sacrifices of the Avar, showed themselves anxious to 
concbide a separate treaty Avith the French monarch. Tliis design 



A.D. 107G-1G78. PEACE OF NIMEGfUEN. 437 

was strenuously opposed by William of Orange, who, as the cham- 
pion of Protestantism, was the implacable rival and enemy of Lou- 
is, a character which he maintained throughout his life. The main 
object of the prince was to obtain the co-operation of England in 
the war ; but this was no easy matter, for Charles had again sold 
himself to Louis for a pension of 200,000 livres, and had engaged 
to enter into no alliance without the consent of France. The 
British Parliament, however, warmly supported the views of Wil- 
liam ; the Commons pressed the king to declare war with France, 
promising him ample supplies on this condition ; and the nation- 
al inclinations were expressed with so much pertinacity and vig- 
or, that Charles was at length obliged to signify his consent. The 
Prince of Orange proceeded to England, and espoused the Prin- 
cess Mary, eldest daughter of the Duke of York, on the 23d of 
October, 1677 ; and two months afterward a treaty of alliance, 
oflfensive and defensive, was signed at the Hague between England 
and the States of Holland. The two parties agreed to propose 
certain conditions of peace to Louis XIV., and to enforce his ac- 
ceptance of them, in case of necessity, by hostile measures. Louis 
was not averse to a pacification, but his demands were exorbitant. 
Kesolved to make a bold stroke to obtain his own terms, he march- 
ed suddenly upon Ghent, and, after bombarding the city for two 
days, carried it by assault on the night of the 8th of March, 1678. 
The citadel capitulated on the 11th, and this vast and opulent 
city, the second in the Netherlands, remained in the hands of the 
French. Ypres was attacked immediately afterward, and surren- 
dered within ten days. These startling conquests, together with 
the discovery that the King of England was totally insincere in 
the late treaty of alliance, decided the Dutch ministers to accept 
the French propositions, and make peace separately from their al- 
lies. William of Orange, duped and deserted at the last moment 
by the faithless Charles, in vain attempted to resist ; and the treaty 
of Nimeguen was signed between France and Holland on the 14th 
of August, 1678. Holland sacrificed nothing, after a war which 
had threatened to be so calamitous, except two unimportant for- 
eign settlements. Four days afterward the Prince of Orange, 
hoping even yet to frustrate the pacification, surprised the quar- 
ters of Marshal Luxemburg near Mons, and a battle ensued, which 
cost the lives of three thousand men on each side. It was too 
late, however, to renew the war. Spain, after much hesitation, 
acceded to the peace on the 17th of September, surrendering to 
France the whole of Franche-Comte', together with eleven towns 
on the frontier of Flanders, some of which, such as Valenciennes, 
Cambrai, Ypres, and St. Omer, were places of great strength and 
importance. Thus, while the war had been waged with Holland, 



438 * LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

it was Spain that ultimately paid for the restoration of peace. 
The emperor, after some farther successes obtained by Marshal 
Cre'quy in Alsace, at length yielded to necessity, and signed peace 
with Louis on the 5th of February, 1679. 

§ 10. The peace of Nimeguen, which Louis thus dictated to 
Europe, raised him to his highest point of power and glory. It 
was now that the admiring citizens of Paris solemnly decreed to 
him the title of "the Great," and erected in his honor the two 
triumphal arches called Porte St. Martin and Porte St. Denis, 
which still adorn the boulevards of the capital. His courtiers 
worshiped him as a demigod ; foreign governments regarded him 
with servile awe ; and it is not wonderful that in this proud 
zenith of his fortunes he should have shown himself little disposed 
to practice moderation and forbearance. The conclusion of peace 
produced no abatement in his projects of aggressive domination ; 
on the contrary, he took advantage of his position to push his ar- 
bitrary encroachments beyond all bounds of reason and wise pol- 
icy. The late treaties had ceded to France several important 
cities and districts, "with the dependencies belonging to them." 
This vague expression opened a wide field to the grasping ambi- 
tion of Louis. He proceeded to institute courts called Chambres 
de Reunion, for the purpose of ascertaining what dependencies 
had appertained at any former period to the territories now an- 
nexed to France ; and by this ingenious device he soon added to 
his dominions no less than twenty towns "wrested from neigh- 
boring princes, including Saarbruck, Luxemburg, Deux-ponts, and 
Montbeliard. A far more important acquisition, that of the great 
free city of Strasburg, was made by means of a hostile demonstra- 
tion in September, 1681. The town was permitted to retain its 
ancient franchises and peculiar jurisdiction, together with the free 
exercise of the Lutheran religion. Louis entered Strasburg in 
state on the 23d of October. Vauban now exhausted the re- 
sources of his art on its fortifications, and it has ever since re- 
mained the impregnable bulwark of France on the side of Ger- 
many. 

Against these acts of violence, committed during a time of peace, 
the Imperial Diet protested vehemently, but in vain. Through the 
exertions of the Prince of Orange a fresh league was organized 
between the Dutch States, Sweden, Spain, and the empire, pledg- 
ing them to maintain the conditions of the treaty of IVimeguen ; 
but, exhausted by the recent conflict, none of these powei'S were 
at that moment in a condition to recommence hostilities, and, ac- 
cordingly, no steps were taken beyond remonstrances and negoti- 
ations. Louis continued his usurpations. He demanded from 
Spain Alost and other places in Belgium, and in March, 1682, he 



A.D. 1674-1684. PRIVATE CHARACTER OF LOUIS. 439 

poured his troops into the province of Luxemburg under Marshal 
Crequy. His operations, however, were suddenly suspended on 
hearing of the invasion of Austria by the Turks ; he even oiFered 
his assistance to the emperor, designing, in case Vienna should be 
delivered by his arms, to exact in return the recognition of all his 
unjust demands and seizures. In this scheme Louis was foiled by 
the valor of Sobieski, king of Poland, who repelled the infidels 
from Vienna, and saved the empire. Upon this the French ar- 
mies, without farther ceremony, entered Flanders and Brabant in 
the autumn of 1683, captured Courtrai and Dix;mude, and laid 
the whole district under a heavy contribution. The cabinet of 
Madrid now declared war, but made no attempt to send an army 
into the field. Louis pursued his operations unopposed, and in the 
spring of 1684 invested and reduced the fortress of Luxemburg, 
while at the same time he threatened Mons and even Brussels. 
After some delay the States-General of Holland interposed with 
offers of mediation ; and on the 15th of August, 1684, a truce for 
twenty years Avas concluded at Eatisbon between France, Spain, 
and the empire. Strasburg and its district were by this arrange- 
ment formally ceded to France, together with the province of 
Luxemburg, and all the towns which had been annexed by the 
Chambres de Re'union before the 1st of August, 1681. This, it 
was evident, was merely a temporary accommodation, to be fol- 
lowed ere long by a more formidable coalition of those powers 
whose independence was thus recklessly assailed by Louis. 

§ 11. Our at'^ention is now claimed by some nlemorable trans- 
actions of the internal government of Louis — equally marked, un- 
happily, by oppressive injustice, which was aggravated by peculiar 
circumstances of heartless and barbarous cruelty. These events 
are closely connected with the king's personal character and pri- 
vate life, upon which it is therefore necessary to bestow a rapid 
glance, in order to make the narrative intelligible. During the 
earlier years of his reign Louis lived in habits of unrestrained li- 
centiousness. His first object of serious attachment was the un- 
fortunate Louise de la Valliere, who, having borne the king two 
children, retired into a convent, heartbroken and penitent, in 1674. 
Her successor was the Marchioness Montespan. This lady re- 
tained the royal affections for many years, and became the moth- 
er of eight children, who were all declared legitimate, and inter- 
married with the noblest families of the realm. At length Louis, 
liaving reached the mature age of forty, became captivated by 
Fran^oiseD'Aubigne, gi'anddaughter of the famous Protestant his- 
torian, and widow of the comic poet Scarron. This remarkable 
person, afterward so celebrated as Madame de Maintenon, had 
been recommended to Madame de Montespan as governess to her 



440 



LOUIS XIV. 



Chap. XXI. 



children ; in this capacity the king saw hei' constantly, and by de- 
grees she acquired an empire over him which lasted uninterrupt- 
edly till his death. ^ Madame de Maintenon possessed superior 
powers of intellect, attractive manners, and many excellent qual- 
ities ; but she was an uncompromising bigot in matters of religion. 
The queen, Maria Theresa, died in 1683 ; and in the course of the 
following year the king was secretly married to Madame de Main- 
tenon by his confessor La Chaise, in the presence of the Archbish- 
op of Paris. The union was never acknowledged, and the posi- 
tion of Madame de Maintenon at court remained in consequence 
anomalous and equivocal ; but her influence over the royal mind 




Madame de Maintenon. 

in private became boundless, and extended alike to all subjects 
and measures, domestic, political, and religious. It Avas chiefly 
by her representations that Louis was now induced to commence 
a violent and relentless persecution of the unoffending Calvinists, 
which grievously tarnished the glory of his reign, and proved in 
the highest degree detrimental to France. She persuaded him 
that the best means of making satisfaction for the sins of his past 
life was to exert himself for the conversion of the misguided sec- 
taries, and to establish absolute uniformity of faith and church 
government thx-oughout the kingdom. The king's good genius, 



A.D. 1685. THE DRAGONNADES. 441 

the wise and liberal-minded Colbert, had steadily protected the 
Protestants, who had often done the state good service under his 
patronage ; but that admirable minister was now no more. Lou- 
vois and Le Tellier, who succee^ld him in the confidence of Louis, 
especially the former, were men of stern, savage, vindictive tem- 
per, and earnestly supported the counsels of Madame de Mainte- 
non. It was therefore determined to take decisive measures for 
the total suppression of heresy ; but gentle expedients were re- 
sorted to in the first instance. Numerous bands of missionaries 
Avere sent into the provinces ; the press overflowed with sermons, 
pamphlets, books of devotion, and controversial publications of all 
kinds ; a " caisse de conversions" was established under the direc- 
tion of the minister Pelisson, who dispensed the funds intrusted to 
him at the rate of six livres for every abjuration of the so-called 
Eeformed religion. But these measures, though to a great extent 
successful, wei*e too slow in their operation to satisfy the eager 
propagandists of the court, and they were soon exchanged for se- 
verer treatment. The " Chamber of the Edict," instituted by 
Henry IV., was abolished, as well as the Protestant courts in the 
Parliaments of Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Grenoble. Numbers of 
the Reformed places of worship were shut up on frivolous pre- 
tenses. The Huguenots were excluded from all public functions, 
from the liberal professions, from the Universities, from engaging 
in vai'ious branches of commerce and industry. They were for- 
bidden to intermarry with Catholics ; and their children were en- 
couraged to forsake the faith of their parents by being declared 
capable of choosing for themselves at the age of seven years. The 
unhappy sectaries were thus goaded to resistance, especially in 
Languedoc. The governor of that province Avrote to demand mil- 
itary aid in carrying out the king's decrees ; and Louvois instant- 
ly dispatched squadrons of dragoons into the disturbed disti'icts, 
who were quartered on the inhabitants, and abandoned themselves 
to every kind of brutal violence and excess, establishing a " reign 
of terror" wherever they appeared. These atrocious " dragon- 
nades" completely broke the spii'it of the wretched population, 
and they submitted in despair. "Not a post arrives," wrote Ma- 
dame de Maintenon in September, 1685, "without bringing the 
king tidings which fill him with joy ; the conversions take place 
every day by thousands." Sixty thousand persons are said to 
have embraced Catholicism in Guienne in the course of one 
month ; twenty thousand abjured in Be'arn ; eighty thousand in 
the two dioceses of Nismes and Montpellier. 

§ 12. These results might have satisfied the most extravagant 
zealot. But the infatuated Louis, at the urgent instigation of his 
seci'et council, now proceeded to a still more extreme and fatal 

T2 



442 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

measure of severity. On the 17th of October, 1685, he signed 
the celebrated decree called the Eevocation of the Edict of 
Nantes. Acting merely by his own despotic authority, the king 
annulled forever all the privile^b granted to the Huguenots by 
Henry lY. and Louis XIH. ; absolutely prohibited the exercise 
of their religion throughout the kingdom, w^ith the sole exception 
of Alsace ; ordered their temples to be leveled with the ground, 
and their ministers to quit France within fifteen days ; forbade the 
Eeformers to follow their pastors into exile under pain of confis- 
cation and condemnation to the galleys ; and required their chil- 
dren to be baptized henceforth by the Catholic priests, and edu- 
cated as members of the Established Church.* 

Frightful cruelties followed the publication of this decree. Mul- 
titudes of the Reformed, obstinately refusing obedience, were con- 
signed to loathsome dungeons, racked with exquisite tortures, and 
treated with every kind of outrage short of actual murder. Num- 
bers of females were immured for life in convents ; infants were 
torn from the arms of their mothers ; property was destroyed, and 
whole districts laid desolate. The king, most probably, knew 
nothing of these horrors, and was engaged meanwhile in receiving 
the inflated homage and congratulations of his court sycophants, 
who compared him to Constantine, to Theodosius the Great, to 
Charlemagne. Even such men as Bossuet, Massillon, and Fle'- 
chier — as Eacine, La Bruyere, and La Fontaine — were not ashamed 
to take part in this universal chorus of applause. 

Notwithstanding the strict prohibition against emigration, vast 
crowds of the proscribed schismatics found means to elude the 
vigilance of the police, and, escaping from their native land, sought 
shelter in England, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland. Their 
numbers are variously estimated : it seems probable that at least 
two hundred thousand persons expatriated themselves between 
the publication of the edict and the close of the century. Among 
them are to be found names of great eminence, such as that of 
the Marshal Duke of Schomberg, one of the ablest captains of the 
age, who passed into Holland, and placed his SAVord at the disposal 
of the Prince of Orange. Literary men of high distinction — Bas- 
nage, Bayle, Jurieu, Lenfant, Beausobre, Saurin, Eapin — were in- 
cluded in the list of exiles. But the great majority belonged to 
the industrial and manufacturing classes ; and the loss of their 
skill, experience, and energy was an irreparable calamity to France. 
An entire district of the British metropolis is peopled at this day 
by the descendants of these persecuted refugees, who established 
their silk-looms in Spitalfields. 

§ 13. While the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes thus impov- 
* See the Memoirs of St. Simon, vol. viii., p. 143, edit. 1857. 



A.D. 1686-1689. LEAGUE OF AUGSBURG. 443 

erished France by depriving her of multitudes of ingenious and 
distinguished citizens, it had also a marked effect upon the policy 
of foreign nations, and tended to bring about a great change in 
the state of Europe. The bitter and profound resentment which 
it excited among the Protestants of Holland, England, and Ger- 
many threw an immense advantage into the hands of the vigilant 
William of Orange, who was thus enabled to organize a vast and 
imposing confederacy against the tyrant Louis. Active negotia- 
tions ensued under his auspices, which resulted in the famous 
League of Augsburg, signed July 9, 1686, between the emperor, 
the Kings of Spain and Sweden, the Electors of Bavaria and Sax- 
ony, and the Elector Palatine. Holland did not immediately join 
the coalition, as it did not suit the views of William at that mo- 
ment to break openly with the King of France. He was secretly 
making preparations for his memorable expedition to England, 
which issued, two years later, in the abdication and flight of his 
father-in-law James, and his own advancement, together Avith his 
consort Mary, to the throne. With such consummate skill did 
the prince mask his designs, that neither Louis nor James became 
aware of the truth until it was too late to oppose the enterprise. 
Tjouis, as soon as he had penetrated the mystery, hastened to warn 
James of the danger, and signified to the States-General that the 
first act of hostility committed against his ally the King of En- 
land would be regarded by him as a declaration of w^ar. But in- 
stead of pouring his forces into the Netherlands — vv^hich might, 
even at the last moment, have compelled William to remain on 
the Continent — the French king, anxious to anticipate the move- 
ments of the confederates of Augsburg, employed his armies, as 
we shall soon see, in a different direction. The prince was thus 
left at liberty to prosecute his adventurous undertaking. He 
sailed from Helvoetsluys on the 1st of November, 1688, landed in 
Torbay on the 5th, and within six weeks the revolution was suc- 
cessfully accomplished. The fugitive James, with his queen and 
infant son, sought an asylum in France, and were welcomed at 
St. Germains with a generosity and munificence which did infinite 
honor to the kingly character of Louis, on the 7th of January, 
1689. 

§ 14. The success of his antagonist deprived Louis of his only 
remaining ally, and added England to the list of hostile powers 
already arrayed against him. The cabinet of Versailles had been 
determined by the counsels of Louvois to strike the first blow 
against the coalition on the side of Germany. Pretexts for tak- 
ing up arms were not wanting. The Duchess of Orleans, sister 
of the Elector Palatine lately deceased, laid claim to a considera- 
ble part of his possessions under the title of allodial property : 



444 LOUIS XIV. CirAr. XXI. 

this claim had been disallowed, on appeal, by the emperor, and 
Louis resolved to support it by force. Another ground of rup- 
ture was the election of a Bavarian prince to the Electorate of 
Cologne, to which the French king had advanced pretensions for 
a dependent of his own, the Cardinal de Furstenburg. Such were 
the causes assigned by Louis for commencing hostilities ; but the 
war which ensued was in reality a desperate struggle between the 
gigantic monarchy of France and the rest of the European states 
combined to withstand the common danger of an insatiable and 
all-absorbing ambition. 

A French army of eighty thousand men, commanded by the 
dauphin, with Marshals Duras and Vauban, entered the Palatin- 
ate in October, 1688, and, besieging Philipsburg, forced it to sur- 
render within a month. Manheim submitted immediately after- 
ward. Meanwhile a division under the Marquis de Boufflers rap- 
idly took possession of Mayence, Worms, Kreutznach, Spii'cs, and 
the whole of the Palatinate on the left bank of the Rhine ; after 
which the French ascended the Moselle and seized the city of 
Treves. Marshal D'Humieres at the same time invaded the bish- 
opric of Liege, and occupied Dinant. It was now that Louis, at 
the instigation of the brutal Louvois, proceeded to a step which 
has left a deep and indelible stain upon his name. Unable to 
maintain his conquests, he gave orders for the wholesale devasta- 
tion of the Palatinate by fire and sword, for the purpose of pre- 
venting the enemy's army from I'eoccupying the country. This 
inhuman decree was instantly carried into execution, and with 
far more disastrous effect than in the former campaign under Tu- 
renne. Having warned the population to retire, the French gen- 
erals set fire to Heidelberg, with the magnificent palace of the 
Electors, and reduced it to a mass of blackened ruins. Manheim, 
Spires, Worms, Oppenheim, Bingen, were condemned in succes- 
sion to the flames. Crops, farms, vines, orchards, fruit-trees, were 
all destroyed ; and this once rich and smiling land was converted 
into a desolate wilderness. The houseless peasants, to the num- 
ber of a hundred thousand, wandered about in abject misery, im- 
precating the vengeance of Heaven upon the heartless tyrant who 
had caused their ruin. 

These atrocities produced a state of furious exasperation through- 
out Germany which it is impossible to describe. A neAv coalition 
was now formed, under the title of the " Grand Alliance," consist- 
ing of the powers which had signed the League of Augsburg, with 
the important additions of England and Holland. The allies took 
the field with three distinct armies. The first, commanded by the 
Prince of Waldeck, Avith an English division under Lord Church- 
ill, entered the Netherlands, and, defeating Marshal D'Humieres 



A.D. 1689, 1690. BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. 445 

in a sharp engagement at Walcourt, drove the French from the 
line of the Sambre. The second and third, under the orders of 
the Duke of Lorraine and the Elector of Brandenburg, moved upon 
the Rhine, successfully besieged Mayence and Bonn, and afterward 
established themselves for the winter in the Palatinate, where, not- 
withstanding the barbarous ravages of the French, it was still found 
possible to procure subsistence for the troops. 

§ 15. But the chief interest of the early part of this war lies in 
the efforts made by Louis against the newly-acquii-ed throne of 
his inveterate foe, William of Orange. England, under the di- 
rection of a prince so able and so vigorous, was the main strength 
of the hostile coalition ; and it was rather to wrest the sceptre 
out of the hands of William than to effect the restoration of James 
that France now taxed to the utmost her resources both by sea 
and land in preparing a descent upon the British Isles. In March, 
1689, a French squadron of thirteen sail conveyed James to Ire- 
land with a body of troops under the Count of Rosen. Marshal 
Schomberg was now dispatched by William to take the command 
in Ireland, and the king followed in person in June, 1690. About 
the same time, a French fleet, numbering no less than seventy- 
eight ships of the line, put to sea, and engaged the combined force 
of Holland and England off Beachy Head on the 30th of June. 
This battle, in which the French were ably commanded by the 
Count of Tourville, was gallantly contested, especially by the 
Dutch, who bore the brunt of the action, and suffered very severe 
loss. The English admiral, Herbert, earl of Torrington, is said 
to have spared his ships, and was suspected of being secretly in 
the interest of James. The result was that the allied fleet was 
compelled to draw off and seek shelter in the Thames, and Tour- 
ville claimed a decided victory. The Bourbon flag was now in- 
solently triumphant in the Channel for some weeks. Tourville 
attacked and destroyed Teignmouth, on the coast of Devonshire ; 
and the consternation and dismay in England, in expectation of 
a French invasion, were extreme. No farther naval operations, 
howevei', were undertaken this year. 

The famous battle of the Boyne was fought on the very day 
after the engagement off Beachy Head (July 1, 1690). King 
William's army numbered about thirty-six thousand men ; that 
of James, which included a French division under the Count of 
Lauzun, was somewhat inferior. The gallant Schomberg dashed 
into the stream at the head of his column, which consisted chiefly 
of Huguenot refugees, exclaiming, " Allons, messieurs, aliens; voi- 
ci vos perse'cuteurs !" He gained the opposite bank, but fell dead 
at the same moment pierced with three mortal wounds. The 
Protestant army, led by the dauntless William, successfully forced 



446 LOUIS XIV. CiiAF. XXI. 

the passage, and gained an easy and complete victory. The Irish 
infantry broke and dispersed at the first onset ; and though the 
cavahy and the French contingent strove nobly to retrieve the 
fortunes of the day, their efforts were wholly unavailing. James, 
who had shown no energy or courage, instantly took flight, and 
scarcely halted till he reached Kinsale, from which port he sailed 
for Brest. Louis continued for some time longer to defend a cause 
which he must now have felt to be desperate. In the following 
year a French force was sent to Ireland under General Saint- 
iluth, but he experienced nothing but reverses. The capitulation 
of Limerick, the fall of Athlone, and the battle of Aghrim (July 
12, 1691), put an end to the resistance of the Jacobites, and the 
whole country soon submitted to the arms of William. The 
French troops embarked for their own shores, under a convention, 
carrying with them a numerous body of Irish emigrants, who in 
course of time became naturalized in France. They distinguish- 
ed themselves greatly in the service of their adopted country, and 
have often attained high dignities and honors. 

§ 16. The command of the French army in the Netherlands 
was now wisely given by Louis to Marshal Luxemburg, in spite 
of the opposition of Louvois, with whom the marshal was on terms 
of bitter enmity. Luxemburg displayed all his accustomed talent ; 
he forced the passage of the Sambre in the face of the Prince of 
Waldeck, and, on the 30th of June, 1690, defeated him totally at 
the great battle of Fleurus. Here the loss of the allies was im- 
mense, amounting to five thousand killed and eight thousand pris- 
oners, besides fifty pieces of artillery and more than a hundred 
standards. 

In the spring of 1691, the French army, with whom Louis was 
present in person, laid siege to the strong frontier town of Mons, 
and forced it to surrender in nine days, notwithstanding the vig- 
orous exertions of King William, who marched with a large force 
to relieve it, but arrived only in time to witness its fall. 

It was in the course of the same summer that Louis lost his 
minister Louvois, who, having had the misfortune to incur the en- 
mity of Madame de Maintenon, had been for some time past al- 
most in disgrace. His harsh temper and violent counsels had 
made him generally obnoxious, and few regretted his death ; but 
his pre-eminent talent and unwearied activity in all matters of 
military administration had been of infinite service to Louis, and 
it was found impossible adequately to supply his place. The 
death of Louvois was extremely sudden, and was by many attrib- 
uted to poison ; but it is sufficiently accounted for by natural causes, 
and doubtless resulted from the bitter mortification endured by 
the haughty statesman in liis loss of favor at coui't and in the pros- 
pect of his !ip])"n;u']iin!r fill. 



448 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

The subsequent course of the war was fluctuating in fortune, 
but produced no general results at all commensurate with the vast 
exertions and sacrifices made both by Louis and the confederates, 
In May, 1692, a French army of thirty thousand men was assem- 
bled on the coasts of Normandy, near Cherbourg, under King 
James and Marshal Bellefonds, ready to embark for England in 
the fleet of Tourville. The combined English and Dutch fleet, 
under Admiral Eussell, made its appearance in the Channel, and 
Louis rashly sent orders to Tourville to engage, though he had but 
forty-four sail of the line to oppose to ninety-nine of the enemy. 
The gallant Tourville made it a point of honor to obey. On the 
19th of May he attacked the enemy in midchannel, between Cape 
Barfleur and the Isle of Wight ; and, notwithstanding his immense 
inferiority, maintained a tremendous struggle, which lasted till 
nightfall without advantage to either side. During the night the 
French made sail for their own shores ; some of their ships es- 
caped through the dangerous "Race of Alderney" to St. Malo; 
the rest gained the roadstead of La Hogue, where Tourville caused 
them to be stranded, with their broadsides to the enemy, under 
the formidable artillery of the army of invasion planted on the 
heights. In this position they were attacked by the English, un- 
der Admiral Rooke, with some small frigates and all the boats of 
the fleet, on the 23d of May. The French made a manful resist- 
ance, but thirteen of their men-of-war were captured and burnt, 
and the fleet was in fact annihilated. This catastrophe was wit- 
nessed from the cliffs by the unfortunate James, who, while he be- 
held the ruin of his last hopes, could not help expressing his ad- 
miration of the heroic bearing of the English sailors. The battle 
of La Hogue was the last direct attempt made by Louis to recover 
the lost crown of the Stuarts. James retired to St. Germains, 
where he passed the remainder of his life in seclusion and prac- 
tices of austere devotion, and died in the year 1701. 

§ 17. The naval defeat of Louis was counterbalanced by his 
military successes. On the 25 th of May he laid siege in person 
to Namur, the strongest fortress in the Low Countries, command- 
ing the junction of the Meuse and the Sambre. The science of 
Vauban here proved superior to that of the rival Dutch engineer 
Cohorn, and Namur capitulated on the 5th of June. It was in 
vain that King William advanced with seventy thousand men to 
succor the place ; his army was skillfully kept in check by Lux- 
emburg, and he was unable to effect the passage of the Sambre. 
Louis now returned to Versailles ; and William, resolved to strike 
an important blow before closing the campaign, assaulted Mar- 
shal Luxemburg at Steinkirk, in Hainault, on the 24th of July. 
The battle was obstinate and sanguinary, thirteen thousand men 



A.D. 1693-1695. DEATH OF MARSHAL LUXEMBURG. 449 

being slain in the two armies ; but in the end William was com- 
pelled to retreat, and accomplished the movement with his usual 
admirable steadiness and skill. He retired upon Brussels. 

On the opening of the campaign in 1694 the King of England 
offered battle to the French, under circumstances favorable to the 
latter, near Louvain ; but, to the general astonishment, Louis de- 
clined to meet Ms illustrious opponent in a pitched battle, quitted 
the army, and even detached part of his troops into Germany. 
This incident greatly damaged his military reputation, and he 
never afterward made his appearance at the head of his forces. 
The murderous battle of Neerwinden, or Landen, fought between 
William and Luxemburg on the 29th of July, 1693, terminated, 
like so many others, in the defeat of the English monarch, who 
nevertheless conducted his retreat with consummate ability, and 
was acknowledged even by his adversaries to be more formidable 
in repulse than others in success. 

Marshal Catinat, who was now, next to Luxemburg, the most 
distinguished of the French commanders, obtained this year a glo- 
rious victory over the Duke of Savoy at Marsiglia, between Pig- 
nerol and Turin. Prince Eugene of Savoy, now rapidly rising 
into distinction, held a superior command on this occasion. 

The French also repaired, in great measure, the disaster of La 
Hogue by a successful action fought by Tourville with Admiral 
Rooke, in Lagos Bay, on the 27th of June. The English com- 
mander was in charge of an immense and richly-laden convoy of 
merchantmen, forty of which were captured by the enemy, togeth- 
er with four men-of-war. In the following year an English ex- 
pedition against Brest, under Admiral Berkeley and General Tol- 
lemache, failed through the treachery of Lord Marlborough, who 
revealed the destination of the fleet to James, and through him to 
Louis. A landing was attempted, in which the English lost a 
thousand men, among them General Tollemache ; two ships of 
the line were sunk, and several transports destroyed. The com- 
merce of England was at this time seriously crippled by the ex- 
ploits of the famous French corsaii's Jean Bart, Duguay-Trouin, 
Forbin, and Ducasse. Thus, on the whole, the scale of victory 
inclined to the side of France. 

§ 18. Mai'shal Luxemburg, one of the most uniformly success- 
ful of military commanders, closed his brilliant career with the 
campaign of 1694 ; he expired in January, 1695, at the age of 
sixty-seven. Marshal Villeroi, whom Louis appointed to succeed 
him, was a man of slender capacity, favored by the king as hav- 
ing been the companion of his youth, but better qualified to shine 
in the gay saloons of Versailles than as the leader of mighty ar- 
mies. He soon proved his incompetence by allowing King Wil- 



450 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXI. 

liam to recapture Namur in July, 1695 — a success which, from 
the strength and importance of that fortress, and the immense 
losses sustained by the besieged, produced a considerable effect in 
Europe. Villeroi uselessly attempted to compensate this misfor- 
tune by a furious bombardment of the city of Brussels- 

A struggle maintained by sea and land for seven years in suc- 
cession, at such a desperate cost of blood and treasure, had now- 
reduced France to a deplorable state of exhaustion, and Louis 
once more showed a disposition to negotiate for peace. His first 
object was to detach the Duke of Savoy from the coalition. To 
secure this he consented to great sacrifices, surrendering Pignerol, 
which had been held by France for nearly seventy years, and re- 
storing Nice and all other conquered possessions of the house of 
Savoy. These concessions produced a treaty of peace and alliance 
between France and Savoy, which was signed on the 30th of May, 
1696, and strengthened by a contract of marriage between a prin- 
cess of Savoy and the Duke of Burgundy, eldest son of the French 
dauphin. The other members of the league inveighed loudly 
against the Duke of Savoy for thus abandoning their cause ; but, 
the example having once been given, several states were induced 
ere long to concur in a movement for the conclusion of a general 
peace. William III., unable to resist the clamors of the English 
and Dutch merchants, who had suffered ruinously from the war, 
at length consented to treat ; the proffered mediation of Sweden 
was accepted, and a congress of all the great powers was opened 
at Ryswick, a village near the Hague, on the 9th of May, 1697- 
The first of the two treaties of Ryswick, between France, England, 
Spain, and Holland, was signed on the 30th of September, 1697. 
France made restitution to Spain of her conquests in Catalonia, 
and surrendered likewise the duchy of Luxemburg, together with 
the towns of Charleroi, Mons, Ath, and Cambrai. Commercial 
arrangements were made between France and Holland. Perhaps 
the most important article was that by which Louis acknowledged 
William IIL as King of England, and engaged to give no farther 
countenance to the pretensions or adherents of James. A month 
afterward the Emperor Leopold, though with great and evident 
reluctance, ordered his envoys to sign the conditions of peace. 
France relinquished to him all her acquisitions made since the 
treaty of Nimeguen, including Friburg, Brisach, Philispburg, and 
other towns and fortresses on the right bank of the Rhine ; Stras- 
burg, however, was ceded to Louis in full sovereignty. Finally, 
the Duke of Lorraine Avas reinstated in his dominions, after an 
exile which had lasted twenty-seven years. The acceptance of 
such terms must have wounded in no slight degree the pride and 
self-love of the vainglorious Louis; but so wretched was the con- 



A.D. 1697. EUROPE AT PEACE. 45X 

dition of the French people at that moment, that peace had be- 
come an absolute necessity. There was, moreover, another con- 
sideration which powerfully influenced his conduct. Charles II. 
of Spain, after languishing through a reign of some length in sick- 
ness, melancholy, and imbecility, was now evidently hastening to 
the tomb. The conjuncture which Louis had been contemplating 
for thirty years was thus on the point of being realized. The 
King of Spain was childless, and his splendid inheritance w(fLild 
necessarily become the object of a fierce competition among sev- 
eral claimants. Under these circumstances, it was essential to 
Louis to disembarrass himself of the great European coalition, so 
as to be free to act when the moment for action arrived. Accord- 
ingly, he consented to submit to some humiliation in order to pro- 
cure an interval of repose in which to prepare for the fresh com- 
plications that must soon arise. The Emperor Leopold, on the 
other hand, was anxious to protract the war, hoping that so long 
as France was occupied in repelling hostile armies from her own 
frontiers, she would be disabled from enforcing her ambitious pre- 
tensions to the reversion of the Spanish monarchy. The politic 
counsels, however, of Louis prevailed, and the closing years of the 
seventeenth century found Europe in a state of universal peace. 




Louis XIY., the Great (1 lom tl e p untin-, of Rigiud in the Louvre.) 
CHAPTER XXII. 

REIGN OP LOUIS XIV. CONCLUDED. III. FROM THE PEACE OF RYSWICK 
TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS. A.D. 1697-1715. 

i 1. Circumstances which led to the War of the Spanish Succession. § 2. 
The Treaties of Partition ; Will of Charles II. in favor of the Duke of 
Anjou ; Death of the King of Spain. § 3. Duke of Anjou recognized as 
King of Spain ; Second Grand Alliance ; Marlborough ; Eugene ; the 
Pensionary Heinsius ; Louis and his Generals. §4. Campaign of 1702; 
Naval Fight in the Bay of Vigo. § 5. Campaign of Villars in Germany 
(1703) ; Battle of Hochstedt ; unsuccessful Operations of the Duke of Sa- 
voy ; Duke of Savoy joins the Allies. § 6. Villars sent against the Cam- 
isards. § 7. Campaign of 1704; Battles of Donauwerth and Blenheim; 
Capture of Gibraltar by the English. § 8. Campaign of 1706; Battle of 
Raniillies ; Defeat of the French before Turin ; Loss of Lombardy. § 9. 
The War in Spain ; Battle of Almanza ; ruinous Expenses of the War. 
Battle of Oudenarde. § 10. Dreadful Sufferings in France ; unsuccessful 



A.D. 169G. THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 453 

Negotiations for Peace ; Battle of Malplaquet ; Victories ofBrihuega and 
Valla-viciosa. §11. Change of Ministry in England ; Conferences opened 
at Utrecht ; Preliminaries of Peace signed ; Successes of Villars in Flan- 
ders ; Battle of Denain. § 12. Death of the Dauphin, of the Duke and 
Duchess of Burgundy, and the Duke of Bretagne ; Particulars of the 
Treaty of Utrecht. § 13. Results of the War of the Succession ; last Ill- 
ness and Death of Louis XIV. § 14. The "Age of Louis XIV.;" Cel- 
ebrated Characters ; the Jansenists ; Port Eoyal ; Dispute of the Regale ; 
Gallican Propositions on the Pope's Supremacy. § 15. Renewal of the 
Jansenist Controversy ; Condemnation of Quesnel ; the Bull Unigenitus ; 
Destruction of Port Royal ; the Quietists. 

§ 1. We now enter upon the concluding period of the long reign 
of Louis XIV., which was chiefly occupied by the memorable con- 
test called the War of the Spanish Succession. The circum- 
stances which led to this war are exceedingly complicated, and 
demand some closeness and patience of examination in order to 
estimate rightly the merits of the question in dispute. 

In default of the direct posterity of Charles 11. , his successor 
was naturally to be sought for among the descendants of the sov- 
ei'eigns immediately preceding. Of the two daughters of Philip 
IV., the elder, Maria Theresa, had been married to Louis XIV., 
while the younger, Margarita, had espoused the Emperor Leopold. 
The issue of the French marriage, therefore, was clearly entitled, 
according to the laws of nature, to inherit in preference to that 
of the Austrian match ; and the rights of the dauphin, as repre- 
senting his mother, wex'e on this ground incontestable. Maria 
Theresa, however, had solemnly renounced, both for herself and 
her descendants, all claim whatever to the royal inheritance of 
her father — a renunciation which had been stipulated for the ex- 
press purpose of preventing the possible union of the crowns of 
France and Spain in the house of Bourbon. No such act had 
been demanded on the marriage of the younger sister, and hence 
it was contended that in her issue, according to all law and jus- 
tice, lay the true line of succession. The daughter of the em- 
press married the Elector of Bavaria, and had since died, leaving 
an infant son, the Electoral Prince of Bavaria. Accordingly, this 
child was generally regarded, both by the court and the people of 
Spain, as the legitimate heir of the monarchy. In fact, Charles, 
acting under the dictation of his mother, executed, so early as the 
year 1G96, a will bequeathing his whole dominions to the young 
Bavarian prince, his nephew. 

There was yet a third candidate, namely, the Emperor Leopold 
himself, who alleged that the Bavarian claim was void, in virtue 
of a renunciation similar to that of Maria Theresa, exacted from 
the electress on her marriage ; and that, consequently, the Span- 



454 LOUIS XIV. CuAP. XXII. 



CLAIMS TO THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 



■" (1.) Claim of France. 

Louis XIV.= Maria Theresa, d. of Philip IV. of Spain. 

Louis, Dauphin=Maria Anna of Bavaria. 
\ 

I I 1 

Louis, duke of Burgundy. Philip, duke of Anjou, Charles, duke of Bony. 

I King of Spain as Pnn.TP V., 

I Nov., 1700. 
Louis XV. 



(2.) Claim of Bavaria. 

Leopold I., Emperors Maria Margarita, younger d. of Philip IV. of Spain. 

Maria Antonia, Archduchess = Maximilian, elector of Bavaria. 
I 
Joseph Ferdinand, electoral prince of Bavaria, 
declared heir to the Spanish throne, 169S ; ob. Feb. C, 1699. 



(3.) Claim of Austria. 

Maria Anna, younger d. of = Ferdinand III., Emperor. 
Philip ni. of Spain. I 

Leopold I., Emperors Maria Margarita, d. of Philip IV. 



Joseph L, Emperor, 1705. Charles Francis Joseph, 

declared King of Spain, 1700 ; 
Emperor, 1711. 



A.D. 1698. TEEATIES OF PAKTITION. 455 

ish succession devolved upon himself, in right of his mother, a 
daughter of King Philip III. Other arguments were not want- 
ing to support these views, such as the importance of preserving 
intact the long-descended possessions of both branches of the house 
of Austria, and the danger of permitting any farther augmenta- 
tion of the already overgrown power of a sovereign like Louis 
XIV. The emperor, however, waived his personal claims and 
those of his heir-apparent in favor of his second son, the Arch- 
duke Charles. 

Louis XIV., on his part, continued to maintain against all op- 
ponents that Maria Theresa's resignation of her claims was alto- 
gether invalid, inasmuch as the condition on which it depended, 
namely, the payment of her dowry, had never been fulfilled. He 
therefore firmly insisted on the rights of the dauphin as manifest 
and unassailable. 

§ 2. Charles II., however, had a deep-rooted antipathy to France, 
and could not endure the notion of a French prince as his success- 
or. His queen, Maria-Anne of Neuburg, a sister of the empress, 
exercised immense control over her feeble husband, and was en- 
tirely in the Austrian interest ; and it appears that she succeeded 
in persuading Charles to destroy the testament already made in 
favor of the Prince of Bavaria, and to intimate to the court of 
Vienna that none but a member of the Imperial family would 
be named to the succession. Louis saw that his chance of com- 
plete success was very doubtful, but hoped by means of skillful 
intrigue to make sure of at least some part of the spoil. He ad- 
dressed himself, immediately after the peace of Eyswick, to Wil- 
liam of England, and proposed to him a scheme of compromise on 
the Spanish question, professedly designed to preserve the balance 
of European power and avert the outbreak of another ruinous 
war. This overture was accepted by "William ; the negotiations 
were conducted with the utmost secrecy by Lord Portland, Count 
Tallard, and the Dutch Pensionary Heinsius, and the first Treaty 
of Partition, as it was called, was signed at the Hague on the 11th 
of October, 1698, by which it was arranged that the Spanish do- 
minions should be divided, on the death of Charles, among the 
three competitors. Spain, with the whole of her American de- 
pendencies, and the Spanish Netherlands, were assigned to the 
Electoral Prince of Bavaria ; the dauphin was to have the king- 
dom of Naples and Sicily, certain sea-ports in Tuscany, and the 
border-province of Guipuzcoa, which possessions were to be united 
to the crown of France ; lastly, the duchy of Milan fell to the 
share of the Archduke Charles. Information of this treaty, not- 
withstanding all the precautions of its authors, was soon transmit- 
ted to Madrid ; and the unhappy Charles, indignant at the inso- 



456 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXII. 

lent attempt to dismember his dominions without his consent or 
knowledge, immediately signed, under the direction of the Cardi- 
nal Primate Fortocarrero, a deed by which he declared the Prince 
of Bavaria universal heir of the monarchy. But this proceeding 
had scarcely been made known when the young prince suddenly 
died at Brussels, on the 6th of February, 1699, not without sus- 
picion of violent means on the part of Austria ; and both the Par- 
tition Treaty and the testamentary arrangement of Charles were 
thus alike rendered nugatory. 

Louis and William now agreed upon a second treaty (March, 
1700), by which Spain and the Indies were to descend to the 
Austrian archduke, while France, in addition to the Italian king- 
doms, was to receive the duchy of Lorraine, the Duke of Lorraine 
accepting the Milanese in exchange. Meanwhile the dying King 
of Spain remained in a miserable state of vacillation and resent- 
ment. His own feelings strongly leaned toward the house of 
Austria ; but the dexterous manoeuvres of the Marquess of Har- 
court, the French embassador, had succeeded in drawing over to 
the interests of Louis both Cardinal Portocarrero and several oth- 
er members of the Spanish cabinet, and in neutralizing to a great 
extent the hostile influence of the queen. French counsels pre- 
dominated henceforth in the royal chamber. By the advice of 
Portocarrero and the papal legate, Charles applied for a final so- 
lution of his difficulties to the court of Rome, and Innocent XII. 
gave a decided answer in favor of the claims of the house of Bour- 
bon, as being most consonant with the true interests of Spain and 
with the intentions of Philip IV. The king, Avho was now sink- 
ing rapidly, yielded to these representations, and caused a will to 
be drawn up by which he designated as his universal heir and suc- 
cessor his " nearest relation after those who might be called to the 
throne of France," namely, Philip, duke of Anjou, second son of 
the dauphin. Within a month after this important transaction 
Charles II. breathed his last (November 1, 1700). 

§ 3. For some days it remained doubtful whether Louis would 
accept the thx-one of Spain for his grandson, or adhere to his en- 
gagements with William in the Treaty of Partition. Two mem- 
bers of the council, the Chancellor Pontchartrain and the Duke of 
Beauvilliers, were in favor of maintaining the treaty ; but Torcy, 
nephew of the great Colbert, argued powerfully for the contrary 
opinion, pointing out that, since war was in either case inevitable, 
it was obviously better to take a course which would place at the 
command of France the enormous resources of such a monarchy 
as Spain.* Louis was convinced by this reasoning, and decided 

* Sucli is the account given by De Torcy in his Memoirs. St. Simon re- 
lates it difterently. 



A.D. 1700-1702. SECOND GRAND ALLIANCE. 457 

to accept the will. ■ He presented the Duke of Anjou to the court 
as King of Spain, and the young prince was immediately pro- 
claimed at Madrid as Philip V. On the 4th of December he set 
out from Versailles to take possession of his new dominions. 
"Go, my son," exclaimed Louis, as he embraced him on parting, 
"go ; there ai-e no longer Pyrenees !" 

The title of Philip was recognized without opposition through- 
out the vast territories of the Spanish empire; and several foreign 
powers, including England and Holland, formally acquiesced in 
his elevation. The emperor protested, and prepared for war. Eu- 
rope, however, was at this moment so strongly disinclined to a 
renewal of hostilities, that a rupture might perhaps have been 
avoided had not Louis himself, by several imprudent and irrita- 
ting measures, provoked a fresh coalition of his enemies, which 
kindled a still more terrible conflagration than had ever yet been 
witnessed on the Continent. In February, 1701, French troops 
were suddenly introduced into all the frontier fortresses of the 
Netherlands, displacing the Dutch garrisons established under the 
treaty of Ryswick. England and Holland remonstrated, but with- 
out obtaining satisfaction ; and William, supported by his. Par- 
liament, immediately commenced warlike preparations. Louis 
was also unwise enough to announce by letters patent that the 
new King of Spain would retain his right of succession to the 
crown of France in the event of failure of male descendants from 
his elder brother. He committed another great political mistake 
on the death of James IL, in September, 1701, by recognizing his 
son, the Pretender, as King of England, contrary to his express 
engagements with William at the peace of Kyswick. This last 
step was equivalent to a declaration of war. The second "Grand 
Alliance" was forthwith signed at the Hague, between England, 
the emperor, Holland, the Elector of Brandenburg (recently be- 
come King of Prussia), and the Elector Palatine ; the objects of 
which were stated to be the procuring of reasonable satisfaction 
to the emperor with regard to the Spanish succession — the estab- 
lishment of Spanish Flanders as a barrier between France and 
Holland — and an effectual guarantee against the union of the 
crowns of Spain and France in the person of the same sovereign. 

Hostilities had already broken out in Lombardy, where the 
French commanders Catinat and Villeroi were worsted in several 
engagements by the Imperialists under Prince Eugene. Before 
the season arrived for entering on another campaign, the cause of 
the allies had sustained a severe loss in the death of William HI. 
of England, who expired on the 8th of March, 1702. The influ- 
ence of his genius, however, survived. Queen Anne took the ear- 
liest opportunity of announcing that she purposed to follow out 

V 



458 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXII. 

strictly the foreign policy of her predecessor. Lord Marlborough 
was named generalissimo of the allied forces, and the course of 
the subsequent war was mainly directed by that renowned cap- 
tain, with the assistance of two colleagues of scarcely inferior 
ability, Eugene of Savoy, who was all-powerful with the emperor, 
and the Pensionary Heinsius, whose counsels were paramount in 
Holland. 

Louis, on his part, possessed at this moment neither statesmen 
nor generals of the lirst order. Although considerably advanced 
in years, he still affected, as usual, to originate and direct every 
thing in person ; but now that Colbert, Louvois, Seignelay, and 
Luxemburg were gone, his measures were for the most part fee- 
ble, mistaken, and unfortunate. His only able minister was the 
Marquess of Torcy, secretary of state. The two great charges of 
comptroller of finance and minister of war were united in the 
hands of Chamillart, an upright and well-intentioned, but narrow- 
minded and incapable protege of Madame de Maintenon. Of the 
generals, Catinat was in disgrace on account of his ill success in 
the last campaign in Italy ; Boufflers was brave, spirited, and ex- 
perienced, but incompetent to cope Avith the master-mind of Marl- 
borough ; the Duke of Vendome was a highly talented command- 
er, but withal grossly addicted to sloth and sensuality ; Villars, 
now commencing his career, was a thorough soldier of the school 
of Turenne and Luxemburg, and possessed, moreover, great polit- 
ical capacity : his good qualities, however, were disfigured by an 
overweening vanity and boastfulness. 

§ 4. In the campaign of 1702 Marlboi'ough assumed the chief 
command of the allies, and carried on a series of admirable ma- 
ncBuvres, in which the French marshal Boufflers was completely 
outgeneraled, and compelled eventually to abandon the whole line 
of the Meuse. Venloo, Stephanswerth, and Kuremonde opened 
their gates in succession, and the city of Liege was carried by as- 
sault on the 23d of October. 

The result of these operations at once rendered the name of 
Marlborough redoubtable in France and celebrated throughout 
Europe. His victorious career, however, is so entirely identified 
with the annals of his own country, that we shall content our- 
selves with sketching it very briefly in the following pages. 

In Italy and Germany the campaign was not marked by any 
decisive event ; but England had now resumed her traditional su- 
pei-iority on her own element, and the maritime opei'ations of the 
year were disastrous to France. The allies under Admiral Kooke 
attacked Cadiz unsuccessfully; but on the 22d of October, 1702, 
their fleet encountei'ed that of France and Spain under Chateau- 
lienaud in the Bay of Vigo ; after a hard-fought engagement, the 



A.D. 1703. BATTLE OF HOCHSTEDT. 459 

French admiral set fire to his ships to prevent their falling into 
the hands of the enemy ; the English, however, captured no less 
than twenty, among which were several richly-freighted galleons 
just arrived from America. This was a heavy blow both to the 
commercial wealth of Spain and to the naval power of France. 
The treasui'e taken on board the galleons exceeded in value seven 
million pieces of eight. 

§ 0. The year 1703 is memorable for the masterly campaign of 
Marshal Villars in Germany. He passed the Rhine, advanced rap- 
idly into the valley of the Danube, and effected a junction with 
the Elector of Bavaria near Duttlingen. Villars now proposed to 
the elector the daring plan of cariying the war into the heart of 
the Austrian empire, and marching straight upon Vienna. Had 
the counsels of the French marshal been followed, a blow might 
have been struck which would have proved decisive in its conse- 
quences on the fortunes of the war ; but the elector shrank from 
the hazards of so bold an enterprise, and determined on an inva- 
sion of the Tyrol. The elector made himself master of Innsbruck ; 
but the warlike people of that country, on recovering from their 
first alarm, attacked him so vigorously that he was compelled to 
beat a speedy retreat, which was the more necessary as the Impe- 
rialists had already crossed the Bavarian border and were menac- 
ing Munich. Their army was in two grand divisions, one under 
the Prince of Baden, the other under Count Styrum ; Villars, by 
a skillful movement, interposed himself between them, and en- 
gaged Styrum on the 20th of September, in the plain of Hochstedt, 
near Donauwerth. Here, after an obstinate contest, the French 
were completely victorious, the enemy being driven from the field 
with a loss often thousand men. After this great success Villars 
again urged the elector to join him in an invasion of Austria. 
On being met by a second refusal, the marshal, in disgust, solic- 
ited Louis to recall him, and was replaced by Marshal Marsin. 
Some months later the elector was at length persuaded to make 
the attempt recommended by Villars. He marched upon Passau, 
and gained possession of it in two days ; but it Avas now the depth 
of winter, and his farther operations were impeded by the rigor 
of the season ; he deferred his purpose till another year, and re- 
turned to Munich. The lost opportunity, however, did not again 
present itself 

Whatever advantages France obtained in the field were more 
than counterbalanced by the defection of the Duke of Savoy, which 
was openly avowed by a treaty signed with the emperor on the 
25 th of October. The accession of Portugal to the hostile league 
was secured about the same time by the famous Methuen treaty, 
and the allies were thus enabled to command at any moment a 
ready entrance for tlioir armies into the Peninsula. 



460 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXIL 

§ 6. Villars, on his return from Germany, was cliarged by Louis 
with the inglorious mission of quelling the insurrection of the 
Protestants among the Cevennes Mountains, on the borders of 
Languedoc. Harassed by grinding oppression, and excited by 
their fanatical preacjiers, these deluded sectaries had rushed wild- 
ly to arms, and, under the name of Camisards,* had maintained 
themselves successfully against the royal troops, displaying daunt- 
less courage, and sometimes considerable skill, in the defense of 
their mountain homes. Marshal Montrevel was sent against them 
with twenty thousand men, but his bloody cruelties only drove 
the suffering population to the fury of despair, and he totally fail- 
ed in suppressing the revolt. Villars followed a different system: 
he negotiated with the Camisard chieftain Cavalier, prevailed on 
him to make his submission, and procured for him the appoint- 
ment of colonel in the royal service. At the same time he pro- 
ceeded rigorously against all who resisted by force of arms. By 
this mixture of firmness and clemency Villars was enabled, by the 
close of the year 1704, to reduce to obedience the greater part of 
the insurgent districts. The leaders, for the most part, made their 
peace with the government, and were permitted to retire to Ge- 
neva. The peasants were encouraged to remain and rebuild their 
ruined habitations by being exempted from all taxes for three 
years. It was not, however, till the year 1710 that this formida- 
ble rebellion was finally extinguished. 

§ 7. The threatened invasion of the empire determined the al- 
lies to concentrate their efforts in that direction, and Germany 
became again the principal theatre of war in the campaign of 
1704. Marlborough crossed the Neckar on the 4th of June, and 
united himself with the Imperialists under Prince Eugene. Their 
opponents, the Elector of Bavaria and the three French marshals 
Villeroi, Tallard, and Marsin, were considerably superior in num- 
bers, but their movements were badly combined, and Villeroi, ham- 
pered by the injudicious orders of Louis, was detained in the Pal- 
atinate with his whole division, and never reached the decisive 
scene of action. The first engagement took place near Donau- 
werth on the 2d of July ; here the Elector and Marshal Marsin, 
after a terrible carnage, were totally defeated and driven back 
upon Augsburg. Tallard having joined them, they resumed the 
offensive with about 56,000 nien, crossed the Danube, and took 
up a strong position between the villages of Blenheim and Lutzin- 
gen, their centre occupying Hochstadt. The memorable battle of 
Blenheim was fought on the 13th of August, 1704. Tallard, 
who commanded the right wing of the French, was in a great 

* rroiti the white shirt or jacket which they wore, in order to rccopnizo 
each otlier bv niirht. 



A. D. 1704-1706. FKENCH REVERSES. 461 

measure isolated from the rest of the army, and the allies there- 
fore directed their main attack upon his post at Blenheim. After 
a protracted and murderous conflict, it was at length forced, and 
Marlborough established himself upon the heights, completely sev- 
ering the two divisions of the French army. Prince Eugene, aft- 
er a struggle of some hours, was equally successful against the 
elector and Marsin on the left, and the rout now became total 
and irretrievable. Tallard was taken prisoner ; the elector and 
Marsin fled in terrible disorder to Ulm, where they could not suc- 
ceed in rallying more than twenty thousand men. Twelve thou- 
sand at least had been killed in action ; thousands more were 
Avounded ; numbers were drowned in the Danube ; and an un- 
touched corps, amounting to twelve thousand, which had been 
foolishly cooped up in the village of Blenheim, surrendered pris- 
oners of war. The consequences of this defeat were more disas- 
trous than the defeat itself Marsin having rejoined Villeroi, the 
French army hastily crossed to tlie left bank of the Rhine, aban- 
doning Germany to the conquerors ; the Elector of Bavaria fled 
from his dominions, and took shelter in the Netherlands ; the em- 
pire was completely delivered from all danger of invasion, and 
Louis had even reason to be anxious for the security of his own 
frontiers. 

The events of the war in Spain were scarcely less unpropitious 
to the cause of France. Admiral Rooke reduced Gibraltar in Au- 
gust, 1704. The French fleet made every effort to recover that 
important key of the Mediterranean, and a desperate battle took 
place off Velez-Malaga, but without decisive result. Gibraltar 
remained permanently in the possession of the English. The 
Archduke Charles, now proclaimed by the allies King of Spain as 
Charles III., landed in Portugal, and, after some successes in Es- 
tremadura, sailed in the English fleet for Barcelona. That city, 
besieged by the celebrated Earl of Peterborough, capitulated in 
October, 1705, and the sovereignty of Charles was almost imme- 
diately acknowledged throughout Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia. 

§ 8. In Italy, Vendome inflicted a severe defeat on Prince Eu- 
gene at Cassano, in August, 1705, and routed the Imperialists a 
second time at Calcinato in April, 1706. He was preparing to 
follow up these victories by the siege of Turin, when he suddenly 
received orders to repair to Flanders, where the allies had taken 
the field Avith overwhelming numbers under INIarlborough, The 
great battle of Ramiloes, however, was fought and lost before 
Vendome could arrive. The presumptuous Villeroi had commit- 
ted gross blunders in tlie disposition of his army, of which INIarl- 
borough availed himself Avith fatal eflx^ct ; the result AA-as that in 
less than half an hour the French Avere thrown into utter confu- 



462 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXII. 

sion, and fled from the field with the loss of thii'teen thousand 
men (May 23, 1706). This disaster entailed the conquest of the 
whole of Brabant and the greater part of Flanders. The enemy 
entered Brussels, where Charles III. was immediately proclaimed ; 
Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend, Menin, Termonde, Ath, submitted in the 
course of a few weeks. 

Louis received the news of these disheartening reverses with 
unmoved composure. His behavior to Villeroi was magnani- 
mous. "Monsieur le Mare'chal," said the king, Avhen he made 
his. appearance at Versailles, " at our age one is no longer for- 
tunate." 

The operations in Italy this year were no less calamitous to 
France than those in the Low Countries. Upon the departure of 
Vendome the command was intrusted jointly to the young Duke 
of Orleans, nephew of Louis, and Marshal Marsin. The French, 
imder the Duke de la Feuillade, had invested Turin; the Impe- 
rialists, commanded by Prince Eugene and the Duke of Savoy, 
boldly advanced to relieve the capital. Marsin, overruling his 
colleague by virtue of a special commission from the king, stub- 
bornly'determined to aAvait the enemy in his lines. Here the 
French were furiously assaulted on the 7th of September, and, 
after a gallant resistance, were driven from their intrenchmenrts 
in irremediable confusion. Marsin, heading a desperate charge, 
Avas killed ; the Duke of Orleans was severely wounded ; the army 
Avas seized with panic, lost all discipline, abandoned Uie whole 
train of siege artillery to the enemy, and fled to the Alps. All 
the towns of Lombardy instantly submitted to the victors, and 
Charles III. was proclaimed at Milam By a convention signed 
in March, 1707, the French agreed to an immediate evacuation 
of the whole of Northern Italy ; and the triumph of the Imperi- 
alists in the Peninsula was completed three months later by the 
reduction of Naples and the recognition of the Austrian prince 
throughout that kingdom. 

§ 9. Rapid fluctuations took place at this period in the fortunes 
of the two competitors for the throne of Spain. In 1706 the allies 
seemed to be carrying all before them ; the English fleet reduced 
Alicante and Carthagena ; the army under Lord Galway captured 
Ciudad-Rodrigo and Alcantara, and marched -upon Madrid. Phil- 
ip fled precipitately to Burgos, and his rival was proclaimed in the 
capital on the 24th of June. The partisans of the house of Bour- 
bon were in despair ; and it was seriously proposed at Versailles 
that Philip should abandon Spain and retire to reign over the dis- 
tant possessions of that crown in America. Louis, however, with 
generous courage, rejected this advice, and determined to redouble 
his exertions to maintain his grandson on the throne. With the 



A.D. 1707, 1708. BATTLE OF OUDENARDE. 463 

beginning of the year 1707 the face of affairs entirely changed. 
Philip re-entered Madrid amid general acclamations ; and the de- 
cisive battle of Almanza, won by the Duke of Berwick over the 
Anglo-Portuguese under Lord Galway and the Marquess das Mi- 
nas, triumphantly established the Bourbon cause. 

Louis was also encouraged by the successes of his generals in 
other quarters. An invasion of France by the frontier of Pro- 
vence, under Eugene and the Duke of Savoy, signally failed ; and 
the allies were forced to retire from Toulon by Marshal Tesse, 
after sacrificing upward of ten thousand men. About the same 
time, Villars performed one of his most masterly exploits by break- 
ing through the lines of Stolhoffen, hitherto deemed impregnable. 
Vendome, by the exercise of rare skill and prudence, was enabled 
to keep Marlborough in check, during the same campaign, in the 
Low Countries. But these were only momentary gleams of good 
fortune. The expense of such a war was prodigious, and the 
financial situation of France had become seriously alarming. Ev- 
ery means of raising money was exhausted — loans at ruinous in- 
terest, the creation of new and frivolous offices, assignments on 
the revenue of future years, vexatious taxes, immense issues of 
paper currency. The nation groaned under such burdens, and 
popular clamor ran so high that it was necessary to dismiss the 
finance minister Chamillart, and to name as his successor the able 
and energetic Desmarets, a nephew of the great Colbert. His 
measures, however, were precisely of the same character, and the 
embarrassments of the state only became more and more over- 
whelming. 

In 1708 the allies resumed the offensive in the Netherlands, 
and gained a great victory over the Duke of Burgundy and Ven- 
dome at Oudenarde on the 11th of July. By this success the 
northern frontier of France was laid open to invasion ; the victors 
entered Artois and Picardy, and besieged Lille, which, though 
nobly defended by the veteran Boufflers, capitulated on the 2 2d 
of October. Ghent and Bruges surrendered shortly afterward. 

§ 10. The following winter was one of unprecedented rigor. 
Even the impetuous waters of the Phone were frozen over. La- 
bor and commerce were almost totally suspended ; all kinds of 
provisions rose to famine prices, and the distress and sufferings 
of the poorer population were indesci'ibably harrowing. Violent 
manifestations of discontent broke forth against the government ; 
and Louis, deeply mortified and humbled, was induced to open 
negotiations for peace. His overtures were met with almost scorn- 
ful haughtiness, and demands were made which he could hardly 
accept without the sacrifice of honor. The allies insisted that 
Louis should dethrone his grandson and acknowledge Charles as 



464 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXII. 

King of Spain, all members of the Bourbon family being forever 
excluded from the succession. They also required the immediate 
cession of Strasburg, Brisach, Landau, Lille, and several other 
places of the first importance. Notwithstanding his urgent neces- 
sities, Louis refused to descend to such a depth of humiliation. 
He made an energetic appeal to the patriotism of the nation, 
which produced an enthusiastic response, all classes protesting 
that they would rather perish than accept a peace under condi- 
tions so insulting to the French name. The war therefore con- 
tinued with increased exasperation on both sides, and incredible 
exertions were made iu France to prosecute it with effect. The 
king and many of the nobility sent their plate to the mint ; thir- 
ty-five millions, in gold and silver bullion, were obtained from the 
Spanish colonies in the West Indies ; a heavy requisition of corn 
was made upon the provinces for the subsistence of the army ; 
and most of the ordinary taxes were anticipated for eight years in 
succession. Two hundred and twenty millions of livres were pro- 
vided by these means for the service of the year. 

Villars was wisely named to the command in Flanders, where, 
as usual, the most important operations were expected. The gal- 
lant Boufflers, tliough considerably senior to Villars, offered his 
services as second in command ; and the two marshals, with a 
force of about ninety thousand men, directed their march against 
the allies under Marlborough, who, after capturing Tournay, was 
menacing the fortress of Mons. It was in the neighborhood of 
that place, at Malplaquet, that the most terrible and obstinately- 
contested battle of the whole war was fought on the 11th of Sep- 
tember, 1709. Villars received a severe wound and was com- 
pelled to quit the field, which no doubt contributed in gi-eat meas- 
ui'e to the defeat of the French ; the retreat, however, was con- 
ducted in perfect order by Boufflers on Valenciennes ; and the loss 
on the side of the allies, amounting to twenty thousand men, was 
considerably greater than that of the beaten army. Villars wrote 
to his master that another such defeat would deliver Finance from 
all danger of farther hostilities from the Grand Alliance. 

The battle of Malplaquet was followed by renewed diplomatic 
conferences at Gertruydenberg, near Breda, in which the French 
commissionei's went so far as to offer to subsidize the allied armies 
acting against Philip V. in Spain, and to sui-render the whole of 
Alsace to the emperor. But even these degrading terms were re- 
jected ; the allies demanded, as a preliminary to any arrangement, 
that Louis should join them in enfoi'cing, by arms if necessary, the 
absolute renunciation by Philip of the Spanish crown, with the 
whole of its dependencies. This outrageous proposition once more 
destroyed the hopes of peace. *' If I must make war," said Louis, 



A.D. 1710. VICTORIES OF BRIHUEGA AND VALLA-VICIOSA. 455 

" I prefer fighting against my enemies to fighting against my own 
children." 

This generous determination to support the throne of his grand- 
son was rewarded by two brilliant victories in Spain in the fol- 
lowing year. Charles III. had a second time forced his way to 
Madrid, but soon found it impossible to maintain himself in pos- 
session, and commenced a retreat toward Barcelona. Vendome, 
who had been sent to command the French, marched in pursuit, 
and surprised the English general Stanhope at Brihuega on the 9th 
of December, 1710, when, after a Avhole day's desperate fighting, 
the town was forced, and the entire British division surrendered 
prisoners of war. Two days afterward Vendome attacked the 
main army of the Imperialists, imder Charles and Count Starem- 
berg, at Valla-viciosa, and overthrew them with immense slaughter. 
Their broken squadrons fled in disorder to the Ebro, and Philip 
found himself once more seated on the throne, of which he was 
ere long to obtain acknowledged and peaceable possession. 

§ 11. Two unexpected occurrences now took place, which paved 
the way for an accommodation, and eventually brought to a close 
this sanguinary and exhausting conflict. The first was the dis- 
missal of the Whig ministry of Godolphin in England, which was 
succeeded, in August, 1710, by that of Harley and St. John, de- 
clared and bitter enemies of Marlborough. 'Mrs. Masham, the ri- 
val of the Duchess of Marlborough, replaced her at the same time 
in the position of the queen's confidential favorite ; and a com- 
plete reversal of the great commander's policy was evidently at 
hand. Immediately on their accession to power, the new minis- 
ters opened a secret correspondence with the Secretary De Torcy ; 
and it was soon arranged that a general European congress should 
meet at Utrecht. The second circumstance alluded to as tending 
in the same direction was the death of the Emperor Joseph I., 
whose nearest relative, in default of direct issue, was the Arch- 
duke Charles, the pretender to- the crown of Spain. That prince 
immediately took his departure for Germany, where he soon after 
ascended the imperial throne as Charles VI. This materially al- 
tered the views and interests of the allies, who were as little dis- 
posed to see the Spanish sceptre united with that of the empire 
as with that of the house of Bourbon. England, at all events, 
now considered herself fully justified in withdrawing from the 
coalition. The Parliament and the nation expressed their con- 
currence in the pacific disposition of the ministry, and the nego- 
tiation with the court of France accordingly proceeded. The 
British envoys proposed that Philip V. should be left in possession 
of his kingdom, but under an express proviso that the crowns of 
France and Spain should never be worn by the same sovereign. 

U 2 



466 LOUIS ZIV. Chap. XXII. 

They demanded, moreover, that Naples and the Milanese should 
be separated from the Spanish monarchy and ceded to the house 
of Austria ; that Louis should recognize Queen Anne and the 
Protestant succession according to the Act of Settlement, and ex- 
clude the Pretender and his family from France ; and that Gib- 
raltar, Port Mahon, and Newfoundland should be made over to 
England. To these terms — reasonable and even advantageous in 
comparison with those which the Dutch had attempted to extort 
two years before — Louis gave his assent, and the preliminaries of 
peace were signed in London on the 8th of October, 1711. 

Hostilities meanwhile were not discontinued. It Avas in 1711 
that Marlborough fought his last campaign, which was signalized 
by two of his most remarkable successes — ^the forcing of the in- 
trenched camp established by Villars at Arleux, and the capture 
of Bouchain. The illustrious general was now recalled to En- 
gland, where the vindictive malice of his enemies immediately 
stripped him of his command and all his offices, and he was even 
charged before Parliament with wholesale peculation and embez- 
zlement. 

The empire and other powers loudly complained that England 
had betrayed the allied cause, and for a long time absolutely re- 
fused to treat for peace. In consequence, although the congress 
was actually opened at Utrecht in January, 1712, another cam- 
paign ensued between Prince Eugene and Villars. Lord Oi'mond 
commanded an English contingent, but had received secret orders 
to abstain from undertaking any serious operations. The French 
marshal once more proved himself a perfect master of the strategic 
art. Eugene besieged Landrecies ; Villars deceived him by a false 
attack on that point, while he directed his main army upon Mar- 
chiennes and Denain, forced the post of Lord Albemarle at the 
latter place, and either destroyed or made prisoners his whole di- 
vision, consisting of seventeen battalions. This success was fol- 
lowed by the I'ecapture of Douai, Le Quesnoy, and Bouchain ; and 
security was thus restored upon the northern border of France, 
lately in such imminent danger. The result of the campaign re- 
vived the hopes and confidence of Louis, and had a considerable 
effect on the proceedings of the negotiators at Utrecht. 

§ 12. Melancholy events occurred during the progress of the 
conferences in the family of the King of France, which had also 
an important bearing on the course of public affairs. The dau- 
phin, the only legitimate son of Louis, died in April, 1711, and 
was succeeded as licir to the throne by the Duke of Burgundy, a 
prince of whom the nation had formed high expectations as tlic 
pupil of the admirable Fenelon. The young dauphiness, Adelaide 
of Savoy, wliose graces had made her the idol of tlie king and the 



A.D. 1712-1714. PEACE OF UTRECHT. 467 

whole court, was suddenly attacked by malignant fever, which car- 
ried her off in February, 1712 ; her husband, struck by the same 
fatal contagion, followed her to the grave Avithin a week ; and 
their eldest child, the Duke of Brittany, was laid in the tomb about 
a month afterward. The life of a sickly infant, the Duke of An- 
joLi, now alone interposed between Philip of Spain and the French 
throne; and, unless peace should be concluded without delay, the 
allies saw that the two crowns might after all be not improbably 
united, and thus the main object for which they had expended so 
much blood and treasure would be frustrated. This argument, 
together with the recent triumphs of Villars, and the known de- 
termination of Great Britain to secede from the league, at length 
prevailed ; and, after much tedious opposition, the Peace of Utrecht 
was signed by the plenipotentiaries of France, England, Holland, 
Portugal, Prussia, and Savoy, on the 11th of April, 1713. Its 
chief provisions have been already mentioned ; but it was stipu- 
lated in addition that the Spanish Netherlands, as well as Naples, 
Milan, and Sardinia, should be ceded to the emperor ; and that a 
line of frontier fortresses, extending from Furnes on the sea-coast 
to Charleroi and Namur, should be garrisoned by the Dutch, as a 
perpetual barrier between France and the Low Countries. The 
fortifications of Dunkirk were to be demolished, and Lille was re- 
stored to Louis in compensation. The island of Sicily was assign- 
ed to the Duke of Savoy, who now assumed the title of King. 
Great Britain acquired the odious privilege of the asiento, or 
monopoly for providing the Spanish colonies with slaves from Af- 
rica, with other lucrative commercial advantages. 

The emperor still obstinately refused his adhesion to the treaty, 
and France was thus compelled to sustain another campaign, which 
was conducted with great success by Villars in the Palatinate. 
Austria soon found it impossible to protract the war without the 
support of her allies ; and, after the reduction of Spires, Worms, 
Landau, and Freibvirg, negotiations were opened between the gen- 
erals, which resulted in the conclusion of peace with the emperor 
at Rastadt, and with the German princes at Baden, in March and 
September, 1714. 

§ 13. The powers which profited most, both materially and mor- 
ally, by the peace of Utrecht were Austria and Great Britain, es- 
pecially the latter ; notwithstanding which the treaty was severe- 
ly censured in England, both in and out of Parliament, as incom- 
mensurate with the results which the allies had a right to expect 
from their great militaiy successes. In France it was considdred 
matter of congratulation, after such terrible reverses and suffer- 
ings, that she had been able to preserve her independence and the 
integrity of her frontiers. The illusory visions of the earlier part 



468 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXII. 

of the reign had been rudely dispelled ; and Louis, instead of main- 
taining his lofty position as the arbiter of Europe, was glad to ac- 
cept a humiliating peace, signed at a moment when the internal 
condition of his empire was such as to excite the most gloomy and 
distressing apprehensions. The close of the war left the national 
credit at the lowest ebb. The public debt amounted to eighty-six 
millions sterling — an immense sum at the then value of money. 
The annual revenue was mortgaged for years to come ; bankrupt- 
cy seemed inevitable, and", indeed, took place to a considerable ex- 
tent. Agriculture, industry, manufactures, were reduced to a mis- 
erable state of depression ; the laboring classes were perishing by 
thousands of disease and famine. Such were the domestic results 
of the calamitous War of the Succession ; to counterbalance which 
Louis could only reckon one solitary advantage, that of haying es- 
tablished a prince of the house of Bourbon on the throne of Spain 
— a throne which was now despoiled of some of its most valuable 
appendages. 

The health of Louis had been sensibly impaired by the multi- 
plied anxieties and misfortunes of his later years. Repeated be- 
reavements had left his palace desolate ; he lived in melancholy 
retirement, entirely governed by Madame de Maintenon and his 
confessor Le Tellier. His great-grandson, the Duke of Anjou, 
now the heir of the monarchy, was a child of five years old, of 
feeble constitution, and apparently unlikely to attain to manhood. 
Under these circumstances, Louis caused his two sons by Madame 
de Montespan, the Duke of Maine and the Count of Toulouse, to 
be declared legitimate, and placed in the line of succession to the 
throne in case of failure of princes of the blood. He also appoint- 
ed, by testament, a council of i-egency, of which the Duke of Or- 
leans was named president, and intrusted the guardianship and 
education of the youthful heir to the Duke of Maine. Soon after 
making these arrangements Louis was attacked by a malady which 
confined him to his chamber, but was not at first considered to be 
mortal. In the course of a fortnight, however, symptoms of gan- 
grene appeared in one of his legs ; and the king, perceiving that 
his days were numbered, prepared for death Avith exemplary for- 
titude, resignation, and devotion. Causing the young dauphin to 
be brought to his bedside, the dying king gave him a few words 
of admirable counsel, exhorting him to remember his responsibil- 
ity to God, to cultivate peace Avith his neighbors, to avoid extr:iv- 
agant expense, and to study to the utmost the comfort and well- 
being of his people. Madame de Maintenon, worn out by fiitigue, 
withdrew to St. Cyr, and was not present at the closing scene. 
Louis was left in his last moments to the physicians, the priests, 
knd his ordinary attendants. After rallying several times for brief 



A.D. 1715. DEATH OF LOUIS.— JANSENIST CONTROVERSY. 459 

intervals, he breathed his last on the morning of the 1st of Sep- 
tember, 1715, at the age of seventy-seven. His reign, the longest 
on record, had occupied seventy-two years. 

§ 14. The so-called "Age of Louis XIV." is even more mem- 
orable for its brilliant attainments in every walk of literature, sci- 
ence, and art than for its political and military triumphs. This, 
however, is a subject which can not be treated, even in the scan- 
tiest outline, Avithin the compass of the present work. The stu- 
dent must learn from other sources to appreciate the dramatic gen- 
ius of Corneille, Boileau, Moliere, and Eacine ; the profound rea- 
sonings of Pascal and Malebranche ; the vast erudition of Mabil- 
lon and Ducange ; the ethical wisdom of Nicole, La Bruyere, and 
La Rochefoucauld ; the fervid and sublime oratory of Bossuet, 
Fene'lon, Bourdaloue, Massillon, and Flechier. Nor can we do 
more than chronicle the names of the eminent painters Poussin, 
Le Sueur, Claude Lorraine, Lebrun, and Mignard ; of the archi- 
tects Mansart and Perrault ; of the sculptor Puget; of the com- 
poser Lulli. 

We must, however, briefly notice the religious controversies and 
ecclesiastical history of this eventful reign, which are of more than 
usual interest. The opinions of Jansenius, bishop of Ypres, on 
the mysterious doctrines of grace, predestination, and free will, 
found numerous supporters in France, the chief of whom was the 
famous Duvergier de Hauranne, abbot of St. Cyran. The Jan- 
senists rapidly increased in influence, and fixed their head-quarters 
at the monastery of Port Royal, between Versailles and Chevreuse, 
which has been immortalized by the fame of its illustrious inmates, 
Arnauld, Pascal, De Sacy, Nicole, and Lancelot. The Jesuits, 
however, who took the opposite view of the questions in dispute, 
were predominant in the Church of France ; and during the min- 
istry of Mazarin they obtained from Popes Lmocent X. and Alex- 
ander VII. a condemnation of certain propositions extracted from 
the writings of Jansenius. The Jansenists resisted this, alleging 
that the censured propositions were not to be found in the work 
referred to ; the Pope replied by imposing on the whole clergy a 
form of declaration accepting the condemnation without reserve. 
A violent controversy followed, in the course of which Pascal pub- 
lished his celebrated " Letti-es Provinciales," a sarcastic and crush- 
ing attack upon the moral system of the Jesuits, from which they 
have never recovered. At length, by the wise management of 
Pope Clement IX., the recusants were persuaded to a modified 
acceptance of the papal decision ; and a reconciliation took place 
in 1668, which is commonly known as the "Peace of Clement 
IX." The Jansenists, however, continued to flourish, and acquired 
considerable political influence ; for, the court having espoused the 



470 LOUIS XIV. Chap. XXII. 

Jesuit side, the opposite faction was the natural resort of all who 
were disaffected to the government. The Duchess of Longueville, 
tlie heroine of the Fronde, was during the later years of her life 
one of its most ardent partisans. 

During the intervals of the Jansenist controversy, the affair of 
the "Regale" gave rise to a serious misunderstanding between 
Louis XIV. and the court of Rome. This was the right claimed 
by the king to present to all the benefices in a diocese during the va- 
cancy of the see, and to dispose of the episcopal revenues until the 
new bishop had taken the oath of allegiance. Two of the French 
prelates opposed these pretensions, and were supported by Pope 
Innocent XI. Upon this, Louis convoked an assembly of the cler- 
gy in 1682, which drew up, chiefly under the influence o£ Bossuet, 
bishop of Meaux, four propositions, strongly asserting that the 
Pope has no right to meddle with the State in mattei'S temporal 
— that his power must be limited by the ecclesiastical canons — 
that his decrees are not authoritative nor infallible without the 
assent of a General Council — and that he can not ordain any 
thing contrary to the constitutions and liberties of the Gallican 
Church. The Pope censured these propositions, and caused them 
to be publicly burnt at Home ; he also refused the bulls of insti- 
tution to all bishops Avho adhered to them ; and at one time a 
third of the whole number of dioceses in France were held by the 
prelates, who, although enjoying their revenues, were incapable of 
executing any episcopal function. An arrangement was at length 
effected in 1693 ; the bishops wrote separately to the Pope, ex- 
pressing their grief at the proceedings of the assembly of 1682 ; 
and the king retracted an edict by which he had sanctioned the 
four articles as law. With this qualified submission the Pope de- 
clared himself content, an^ peace was restored. But the famous 
pi'opositions of 1682 have nevertheless continued to be appealed 
to in France from that time to the present, and are I'egarded as 
expressing the Gallican view of the Pope's supremacy, in contra- 
distinction to the Ultramontane. 

§ 15. The Jansenist dispute was revived in 1693 by the appear- 
ance of a work by Quesnel, a priest, of the Oratory, entitled " Re'- 
flexions Morales sur le Nouveau Testament," which was reported 
to contain heterodox doctrine. Le Tellier, the Jesuit confessor of 
Louis, persuaded the king to appeal to the Pope against this pub- 
lication ; and its condemnation was easily procured from Clement 
XL Noailles, archbishop of Paris, a patron of Quesnel, refused 
to receive the papal brief; and the affair continued to be violent- 
ly agitated on both sides. After many vain attempts to settle the 
quarrel, the Jesuits succeeded in extorting from Clement the mem- 
orable bull " Unigenitus," dated September 8, 1713, which speci- 



Chap. XXII. THE QUIETISTS.— MADAME GUYON. 471 

fied and condemned a long list of propositions quoted from the 
" Reflexions Morales" as conveying false doctrine in a covert and 
plausible manner, and forbade the faithful to hold or encourage 
them under pain of excommunication. This proceeding convulsed 
the Church and realm of France from one end to the other, and 
threatened to produce the most calamitous consequences. Louis 
insisted on the immediate and unqualified recognition of the bull; 
the archbishop and other prelates declined compliance, and were 
forthwith banished from court. Louis and his advisers resolved 
to px-oceed to extreme measures of persecution against the protest- 
ing party; and the unhappy Jansenists, of all professions and 
classes, were subjected to imprisonment, confiscation, and every 
species of vindictive oppression. It is even said that a lettre de 
cachet was actually signed for arresting the Cardinal de Noailles, 
and was only suspended by the illness and death of the king. 

A few years previously, in 1709, Le Tellier had obtained frcm 
Louis a decree for the total suppression and demolition of the con- 
vent of Port Royal des Champs. This cruel mandate was carried 
into execution with the most inexorable rigor. A lieutenant of 
police, with a body of soldiers, expelled the nuns forcibly from their 
cloister, and distributed them in other houses about the country. 
The building was then razed to the ground ; the church was bru- 
tally profaned, the sacred relics torn from the altar, the bodies 
disinterred from the cemetery, and every trace of the establish- 
ment destroyed — the very soil being abandoned to the plow. 

Great agitation was created about the same time by the doc- 
trines of the sect of mystics called Quietists, which had obtained 
currency in France through the influence of the celebrated Ma- 
dame Guyon. Complaints were made to the Pope against a work 
of the excellent Fe'nelon, archbishop of Cambrai, entitled " Max- 
imes des Saints sur la Vie Interieure," which was said to favor 
these opinions. Bossuet was his chief opponent, and wrote with 
vehement animosity against him. Fenelon's book was condemn- 
ed by a papal brief in March, 1G99 ; and tlTe prelate, with saintly 
humility, accepted the decision without reserve, read the brief 
from the pulpit of his cathedral, and declared that he abjured from 
the heart the opinions censured. Madame Guyon, a woman of 
great genius and deep piety, but of visionary, enthusiastic temper, 
continued, nevertheless, to propagate her views, and gained a won- 
derful ascendency over several persons of high station. She was, 
in consequence, arrested and imprisoned at Vincennes, and, after 
remaining there some years, was transferred to the Bastile, but 
was at length restored to liberty in 1705, and died peacefully in 
the bosom of her family. 



472 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap, XXIL 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



AUTHORITIES FOR THE REIGN OP 
LOUIS XIV. 

The principal source of contemporary his- 
tory for this period is the Memoirs of the 
Duke of Saint Simon^ of which the best edi- 
tion is that recently published at Paris, 20 
vols. Svo, 1S5T. . This work, though abound- 
ing with puerilities and idle gossip, will al- 
ways preserve its reputation and authority, 
from the high position of its author, his gen- 
eral fidelity and accuracy, and his remarkable 
power of delineating individual character. It 
estends to the death of the Regent Duke of 



Orleans In 1723. The author died in 175T. 
The Memoirs of the Marquis de Darujeau., 
of the minister De Torcij, of Duelos, of the 
Duke of Berwick^ and of Marshal Villars^ are 
full of important information. See also the 
Life of Madame de Maintenon^ by the Duke 
of Noailles. Among the best modem works 
relating to this period are Lemontey, Essai 
sur V Mtablissentent Monarehique de Louis 
XIV. ; Voltaire, Siicle de Louis XIV. ; 
D'Anquetil, Louis XIV.., sa Cour., et le Re- 
gent; Clieruel, De V Administration de Louis 
XIV. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

EEIGN OF LOUIS XV. I. FROM THE REGENCY OF THE DTIKE OF ORLEANS 
TO THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. A.D. 1715-1748. 

§ 1. Regency of the Duke of Orleans; his Character; Financial Reforms; 
the "Chambre Ardente." § 2. The Abbe Dubois; Alliance between 
France and England ; the Quadruple Alliance opposed by Philip of Spain. 
§3. Conspiracy of Cellamare ; War with Spain ; Fall of Alberoni ; Spain 
accepts the Quadruple Treaty. § 4. Schemes of the Financier Law ; the 
Royal Bank ; the Mississippi Company ; total Failure of Law's System ; 
National Bankruptcy. § 5. Dubois named Cardinal and Archbishop of 
Cambrai ; Majority of Louis XV. ; Death of the Duke of Orleans and of 
Dubois. § 6. Ministry of the Duke of Bourbon ; Marriage of Louis to 
Maria Leczynski. § 7. Resentment of Philip of Spain ; the Pragmatic 
Sanction ; Dismissal of the Duke of Bourbon ; Fleury Prime Minister. 
§ 8. Prudent and peaceful Administration of Fleury ; Treaty of Seville. 
§ 9. Disputes arising from the Bull Unigenitus ; Collision between the 
Parliament and the Crown; Persecution of the Jansenists ; the "Con- 
vulsionnaires." §10. Stanislas Leczynski elected King of Poland ; Franco 
supports him against Russia ; War with Austria; Death of the Duke of 
Berwick and of Marshal Villars; Peace of Vienna. §11- Death of the 
Emperor Charles VI. ; War of the Austrian Succession; calamitous Re- 
treat of Marshal Belleisle from Prague. § 12. Death of Cardinal Fleury ; 
the Duchess of Chateauroux ; Battle of Dettingen ; Louis XV. joins his 
Army ; dangerous Illness of the King at Metz. § 13. Death of the Em- 
peror Charles VII. ; ineffectual Overtures for Peace ; Battle of Fontenoy ; 
Marshal Saxe conquers Belgium ; Wnr with Holland ; Battle of Lawfeld. 
§ 14. Hostilities in the East Indies ; La Bourdonnais and Dupleix ; Siege 



474 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII. 

of Pondiclierry. § 15. Maestricht suiTenders to Marshal Saxe ; Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle. 

§ 1. The late king had predicted that his will would be treat- 
ed as so much waste paper. Such was literally its fate. The 
Parliament scarcely went through the form of reading it ; and, 
without any discussion, the Duke of Orleans was appointed re- 
gent unconditionally, with the full and supreme authority of gov- 
ernment. The Duke of Maine inade no attempt to resist ; he was 
deprived of the guardianship of the young king, and of the super- 
intendence of his household, but was permitted to keep the direc- 
tion of his education. 

The new regent, Philip, duke of Orleans, had married one of 
the illegitimate daughters of Louis XIV. He possessed superior 
abilities, eager ambition, great personal courage, and a warm, 
amiable, generous temper ; but, at the same time, he was totally 
destitute of religious and moral principle, and his habits of life 
were shamelessly dissolute. His example had a most pernicious 
and deplorable effect upon the tone of society in France. 

Having named his council of regency, the principal members of 
which were the Duke of Bourbon, the Duke of Maine, Marshal 
Villeroi, and the Duke of Saint Simon, the regent intrusted the 
departments of the administration to seven councils or commit- 
tees, composed of ten members each, selected chiefly from the no- 
bility.* At the head of the council of " conscience," or ecclesi- 
astical affairs, was the Cardinal de Noailles. He immediately 
banished the Jesuit Le Tellier and others of his order, and ap- 
pointed the excellent and learned Abbe de Fleury f to the office of 
confessor to the young king. The lettres de cachet were at ther 
same time strictly examined, and the doors of the Bastile were 
thrown open to numbers of unfoi-tunate captives, many of whom 
had been confined for causes altogether unknown. 

Other important measures followed. A considerable reduction 
was effected in the army. With a view to remedy the lamenta- 
ble disorder which prevailed in the finances, a new coinage was 
issued, which raised the value of the louis d'or from fourteen livres 
to twenty, and that of the crown from three livres and a half to 
five. The validity of all bills in circulation upon the state was 
severely, investigated, and upon the report of the commissioners 
the public liabilities were summarily reduced from six hundred 
millions to two hundred and fifty millions, which sum was pro- 
vided for by bills bearing interest at four per cent. A still more 
arbitrary and tyrannical step was the creation of a special court 

* These councils were abolished two years afterward. 
t Fleury, the Church historian — not to be confounded with the Bishop of 
Frejus, afterward cardinal and prime minister. 



A.D. 1715-1717. - THE ABBE DUBOIS. 475 

of justice, or " chambre ardente," for the verification of all claims 
upon the government' by the fermiers ge'ne'raux and other public 
creditors. Tiie most atrocious means, including torture, were used 
without scruple to obtain convictions before this tribunal. Serv- 
ants were encouraged to give evidence against their masters under 
false names ; informers received a large portion of the sums re- 
covered ; and with such relentless rigor was the proceeding con- 
ducted, that after an inquiry extending over twenty-seven years 
past the names of no less than four thousand five hundred heads 
of families were published as guilty of frauds upon the treasury. 
Numbers of the proscribed financiers were thrown into prison, 
whence they only escaped by paying enormous ransoms to the re- 
gent and his greedy courtiers ; some were punished with death j 
many committed suicide. In the end popular indignation was 
roused against this odious persecution. Most of the convicted 
debtors were released upon payment of a very small part of the 
amount first demanded ; and not more than a thii'd of the whole 
sum expected from the scheme was actually realized. The 
" chambre ardente" was suppressed in March, 1717. 

§ 2. The foreign policy of the regency took a very different turn 
from" that which France had pursued for the last thirty years. 
The man who exercised the greatest ascendency over the Duke 
of Orleans was the Abbe Dubois, who had formerly been his pre- 
ceptor, and had shaped his character very much upon the model 
of his own. Dubois was to the last degree base, false, and aban- 
doned ; utterly corrupted in heart by long habits of gross sensu- 
ality, but withal gifted with extraordinary shrewdness and pene- 
tration ; and with indomitable energy and perseverance. The 
regent, in spite of the entreaties of the duchess his mother, who 
dreaded the abbe's influence, appointed Dubois a councilor of 
state, and soon afterwai'd secretary for foreign affairs ; and he be- 
came, in fact, all powerful as long as the regency lasted. Dubois, 
who was in the pay of the Whig ministers of George I. of En- 
gland, now persuaded the Duke of Orleans that his true interest 
lay in contracting a close alliance with Great Britain. 

Philip V. of Spain cherished a deep and rancorous hatred against 
his cousin the regent ; he fully believed the imputations which had 
branded him as accessory to. the death of the dauphin and other 
members of his family ; he contested his right to the regency ; 
and, farther, in case of the death of Louis XV., he designed to 
usurp the succession to the French throne, in opposition both to 
the claims of the regent and to his own solemn oath of renuncia- 
tion. It was in order to counteract this menaced danger from 
the side of Spain that Dubois cultivated the friendship of the 
house of Hanover, which was in like manner threatened by the 



476 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIIL 

Pretender and the Jacobites, enemies still formidable, notwith- 
standing the defeat of their recent attempt'in Scotland. Mutual 
interest, urged Avith consummate subtlety and skill by Dubois, 
soon brought the two parties to an understanding, and by his 
agency a treaty of tripte alliance between England, France, and 
Holland was signed at the Hague in January, 1717. After some 
farther negotiation, the Emperor Charles VI. acceded to this com- 
pact in August, 1718, and it was thenceforth called the Quadruple 
Alliance. The contracting powers guaranteed the succession to 
the crowns of France and Spain according to the terms of the 
Treaty of Utrecht ; the emperor acknowledged Philip V., re- 
nouncing his own pretensions ; Sicily was annexed to Austria in 
exchange for Sardinia, which was allotted to the Duke of Savoy 
with the title of King of Sardinia ; lastly, France engaged to ex- 
pel the Pretender and his adherents from her territories, and to 
demolish, in addition to Dunkirk, the important fortifications of 
Mardyke. Thus the system of Louis XIV. Avas entirely reversed ; 
the ministry of the regent leagued itself with the immemorial en- 
emies of France, while it offended and sacrificed a power which, 
by the will of Charles II. and the establishment of a Bourbon at 
Madrid, had become its natural ally. 

The weak and indolent Philip V. was at this time absolutely 
governed by his second wife, the talented and ambitious Elizabeth 
Farnese, and by her confidential friend, the Italian adventurer Al- 
beroni, whose extraordinary genius had raised him to the post of 
prime minister and the dignity of cardinal. Alberoni was bent 
upon the hopeless project of re-establishing the ancient ascendency 
and prosperity of Spain, and he now employed all his energies and 
resources in withstanding the Quadruple Alliance. An outrage 
offered by the emperor to one of the Spanish envoys in Italy pre- 
cipitated the impending rupture : nine thousand Spaniards landed 
in Sardinia in August, 1717, and in less than three months com- 
pleted the conquest of the island. An attempt was now made by 
France and England to obtain the acquiescence of Spain in the 
views of the coalition ; but Alberoni peremptorily rejected the pro- 
posal, and in July, 1718, dispatched a second fleet and army to at- 
tack the island of Sicily. Upon this Great Britain interfered, and 
sent a powerful armament to oppose the Spaniards, although war 
had not been actually proclaimed ; a great battle was fought off 
Cape Passaro, and the Spanish fleet was annihilated. War be- 
came inevitable. It was hastened by a singular occurrence Avhich 
happened about the same time in France, namely, the discovery 
of the so-called conspiracy of Cellamare. 

§ 3. The Prince Cellamare, the embassador of Spain at Paris, 
was the instrument of Alberoni's hostile intriaues against the re- 



A. D. 1717-1710. CONSPIRACY OF CELLAMAEE. 477 

gent. Pie was in close correspondence with many of the malcon- 
tent French nobility, but his chief confidants were the Duke and 
Duchess of Maine, who had never forgiven the duke's removal 
from the posts of authority assigned to him by the will of Louis 
XIV. A plot was organized (though it seems doubtful how far 
the design was seriously entertained) for carrying off the regent 
into Spain, and placing Philip V. at the head qf the French gov- 
ernment. Assistance was expected from Brittany, which was just 
then in agitation in consequence of an attempt against the ancient 
privileges of the province ; and a fleet was actually dispatched from 
Spain to support the insurrection. The confederates,- however, 
were betrayed to Dubois ; an agent of Cellamare was seized at 
Poitiers on his way to Madrid ; and dispatches of which he was 
the bearer fully compromised all the principal parties to the 
scheme. Cellamare was forthwith arrested, and conducted to the 
frontier under a strong guard ; the Duke and Duchess of Maine 
wei-e imprisoned, together with numbers of their partisans ; and 
the conspiracy was completely crushed. Some needless severities 
took place in Brittany, where several gentlemen were executed ; 
and much hostile feeling was excited against Spain, of which Du- 
bois failed not to take advantage. The regent and the council 
adopted his views, and France declared war against Spain on the 
10th of January, 1719. England had taken the same step a few 
days previously. 

The Duke of Berwick, at the head of forty thousand men, cross- 
ed the Spanish frontier, and, after desti'oying a large quantity of 
shipping in the harbor of Passages, reduced the towns of Fontara- 
bia and San Sebastian. In concert with an English squadron 
which cruised off the coast, the French afterward burnt several 
large ships of war at Santona, " in order," as Berwick wrote to 
the regent, " to prove to the British Parliament that no exertion 
had been spared to cripple the Spanish navy." This war, in fact, 
tended far more to promote and confirm the maritime supremacy 
of England than to advance the interests of France. Meanwhile 
an Austrian army, embarked in British vessels, made a descent 
upon Sicily, and the Spaniards, after a gallant but ineffectual de- 
fense of Messina, were compelled to give way, and evacuated the 
island. The faint-hearted Philip now became discouraged, and 
solicited terms of peace. The allies exacted, as a preliminary 
condition, the dismissal of Alberoni; and in December, 1719, that 
great minister Avas suddenly deprived of all his offices, and oixler- 
ed to quit Madrid within eight days. The downfall of Alberoni 
removed the main obstacle to an accommodation, and reduced 
Spain to an ignominious submission. In February, 1720, Philip 
signified his acceptance of the terms of the Quadruple Treaty. 



478 LOUIS XV. . Chap. XXIII. 

He renounced Sicily and Sardinia, of which the emperor and the 
Duke of Savoy immediately took possession ; and by way of in- 
demnity, the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Tuscanj^, in the 
event of the death of the present possessors without heii-s, were 
promised to Don Carlos, the eldest son of Philip by his second 
marriage. 

France and England now interposed to mediate a peace between 
Peter the Great of Eussia and the King of Sweden, and by the 
treaty of Pystadt (September, 1721) tranquillity was once more 
restored throughout Europe. 

§ 4. While PVance was thus wasting her strength and squan- 
dering her revenues in a war from which she derived no advant- 
age, the financial condition of the kingdom, notwithstanding all 
the expedients resorted to, had become more and more disastrous. 
The public debt continued to increase ; the deficit amounted to 
ninety-seven millions of livi-es ; commerce was at a standstill, and 
the nation seemed on the verge of ruin. At this crisis the regent 
was induced to listen to the proposals of a Scotch adventurer 
named John Law, who, having been exiled in consequence of a 
duel, had passed some years on the Continent, and had made a 
considerable fortune at the gaming-table. The principle of Law's 
system was that of multiplying the resources of the state by an 
indefinite issue of paper money, which was to be substituted for 
the precious metals as the circulating medium. Gold and silver, 
he argued, have no*real, but only a conventional value ; the supply 
of them is limited, and can not be increased at pleasure. If, then, 
their value can be transferred to paper, which can easily be issued 
to any desired amount, it is evident that national wealth may be 
augmented to an almost inconceivable extent. Law accordingly 
proposed to the regent to establish, on the credit of the govern- 
ment, a royal bank of deposit and discount, with an unlimited pa- 
per currency, and by the profits of its operations to reduce and 
gradually extinguish the overwhelming liabilities of the state. 
The bank was opened in 171G, but at first only as a private en- 
terprise. Its success was rapid and complete ; and in December, 
1718, the regent converted it into a royal bank, the state becom- 
ing the proprietor of the whole of its twelve hundred shares. 

The next step was to set on foot, and associate Avith the bank, a 
gigantic mercantile speculation, called the Mississippi or West In- 
dia Company, which possessed the exclusive right of trading Avith 
Louisiana in America, and other privileges. The public mind was 
fnflamed by reports of the inexhaustible riches of the Indies, and 
of the discovery of gold and diamond mines in those remote colonies. 
The project was embi'aced w^ith feverish ardor ; the shares of the 
company rose in value witli surprising rapidity, and by September, 



A.D. 1719, 1720. SCHEMES OF THE FINANCIER LAW. 479 

1719, were worth five thousand francs each instead of five hund- 
red, at which they were originally issued. The demand still in- 
creased, and one hundred thousand new shares were created to 
meet it, which, by an express enactment, were to be purchased, not 
Avith coin, but with bank-notes. The government paper thus ob- 
tained an immense premium. The regent now granted to the 
company a lease of the public taxes, in return for which the com- 
pany lent him twelve hundred millions of francs toward paying 
the debts of the state. The interest of this loan was three per 
cent, instead of four, which had been paid hitherto ; this difference, 
then, was in favor of the regent ; and the public creditor was 
henceforth paid, not in cash, but with the shares of the India Com- 
pany, taken at their present fabulous market-price. A dividend 
of twelve per cent, was soon declai'ed upon the shares, and an in- 
credible impulse was given to the sale, the anxiety to obtain them 
amounting to infatuation. In October they reached the prepos- 
terous price of ten thousand francs, twenty times their original 
value; it is even said that at last they were not to be purchased 
under eighteen or twenty thousand francs. Enormous fortunes 
were realized during the height of the ferment by speculators of 
all classes — from princes, generals, and prelates, down to petty 
shopkeepers, clerks, lackeys, waiting-maids, and co'urtesans. A 
fictitious and baseless prosperity overspread the whole kingdom. 
But a reaction was inevitable. Such was the rage for obtaining 
the bank-paper, that Law found himself unable to control its is- 
sue ; its circulation was increased to the portentous amount of 
three thousand millions of francs, whereas the whole value of the 
metallic coinage existing in France did not exceed seven hundred 
millions. Toward the close of 171 9 suspicion began to gain ground 
as to the solvency both of the bank and of the company, and many 
of the largest shareholders prudently converted their shares and 
notes into investments in money, jewels, and landed property. 
The Prince of Conti gave the signal for this assault upon the pub- 
lic credit by extorting from the bank three cart-loads of silver in 
exchange for his bank-notes. Every exertion was now made by 
the regent and Law to arrest the downward movement, but in 
vain. Money payments were forbidden for sums above one hund- 
red francs ; the currency of the bank-notes was made obligatory ; 
and at last all payments in specie wei-ej)rohibited. Violent means 
were adopted to enfoi'ce these tyrannical decrees ; but it was im- 
possible to stem the tide of reaction ; the public confideno* was 
shaken more and more every day, and, the hollowness of the whole 
system soon becoming manifest, a universal panic ensued. On the 
21st of May, 1720, an edict appeared which amounted to an act 
of national bankruptcy ; it reduced both the company's shares and 



480 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII. 

the notes of the bank to one half their nominal value. Such was 
the general exasperation produced by this measure, that the regent 
revoked it shortly afterward. But this extraordinary delusion 
was now finally dispelled ; an overwhelming rush was made upon 
the bank to obtain cash for its paper, and on the loth of July it 
was compelled to suspend payments. The notes soon became al- 
most worthless ; in October they were altogether withdrawn from 
circulation ; and the vast fabric constructed by Law crumbled at 
once into ruin. He himself escaped with difficulty with his life 
from the fuiy of the populace, and, carrying with him the mere 
wreck of his fortune, retired to Venice, where he died in abject 
poverty a few years afterward. 

The financial condition of France was a perfect chaos. A com- 
mission was appointed, under the direction of the four brothers 
Paris, to investigate and liquidate the claims of the bank creditors, 
multitudes of whom were left without the means of procuring the 
necessaries of life, and M^ere dying of hunger. It was found that 
six thousand millions of the discredited notes were scattered over 
the kingdom ; only about a third of that amount was presented 
to undergo the operation of the visa ; a large proportion of this 
residue was disallowed by the commission ; and the conclusion 
Avas that seventeen hundred millions were reimbursed to the hold- 
ers, partly in cash, and partly by mortgages on the taxes and oth- 
er government securities. The national debt, which the scheme 
of Law had undertaken to abolish altogether, now proved to liaAe 
augmented to no less than six hundred and twenty-five millions 
of francs. On the other hand, the improved management and in- 
creased value of the taxes had raised the revenue of the state from 
sixty-nine to one hundred and twenty-three millions. 

Notwithstanding this strange catastrophe, which involved in 
ruin thousands of families in all ranks, the system of credit which 
was first introduced by Law obtained a permanent hold upon the 
public mind, and brought about an important change in the nature 
of commercial and mercantile transactions throughout Europe. 

§ 5. Little more remains to be recorded during the regency of 
the Duke of Orleans. That prince again immersed himself in his 
disgraceful pleasures, and allowed the infamous Dubois to monop- 
olize the whole power of government. Not satisfied with being 
named prime minister, Dubois had the effrontery to demand and 
obtain from the regent the archbishopric of Cambrai. The clergy 
seeniifo have made no opposition to this scandalous appointment ; 
and one of the two bishops who testified to the qualifications of 
the candidate was the celebrated Massillon of Clermont. A year 
later the new archbishop was nominated to a seat in the Eoman 
conclave. This elevation was the reward of liis c;ood services to 



A.iD. 1723. MINISTRY OF THE DUKE OF BOURBON. 48I 

the papal court in the matter of the bull Unigenitus. Dubois de- 
clared himself in favor of the Jesuits, and the regent, who had 
hitherto supported their opponents, blindly yielded to his dicta- 
tion. Notwithstanding the opposition of several bishops and a 
large body of the clergy, backed by the University of Paris, Dubois 
forced the reluctant Parliament to register the obnoxious edict, 
and this famous constitution Avas thus acknowledged as the law 
of the Church and the realm. 

Louis XV. attained his legal majority in February, 1723, upon 
which the Duke of Orleans resigned the regency, and became pres- 
ident of the Council of State, which also included the Duke of 
Bourbon, Cardinal Dubois, and Fleury, bishop of Frejus, the king's 
preceptor. Louis was now betrothed to the youthful Infanta of 
Spain, eldest daughter of Philip V., and the princess arrived in 
France, where her education was to be conducted. Dubois, whose 
constitution had been ruined by his eai'ly excesses, was suddenly 
cut short in the enjoyment of his full-blown honors, and expired, 
from the results of a painful operation, on the 10th of August, 
1723. The Duke of Orleans succeeded nominally to the office 
of prime minister, but his determined habits of debauchery had 
weakened and debased his faculties, and he manifested a total in- 
difference to the course of public affairs. Fortunately for the 
state, the duke survived Dubois but a few months. He was cai*- 
ried off by a fit of apoplexy on the 2d of December, 1723, at the 
premature age of forty-nine. 

§ 6. Fleury might now with ease have made himself prime min- 
ister, but either from modesty or policy he declined to come for- 
Avard, and the reins of government fell into the hands of the Duke 
of Bourbon, first prince of the blood, and the lineal heir of the 
great Conde'. The duke was a dull, indolent, insignificant person, 
and was under the absolute dominion of an intriguing and violent 
woman, his mistress^ the Marchioness of Prie. This lady is said 
to have succeeded to the pension from the British government 
which had been received by Dubois. She was governed in her 
turn by a clever but unscrupulous financier named Paris Duver- 
nay, one of those Avho had directed the operations of the visa aft- 
er the disaster of Law. 

The principal event during the Duke of Bourbon's tenure of 
office was the marriage of Louis XV., which led to some singular 
complications. The Infanta of Spain, as already mentioned, had 
been accepted as the futui'e Queen of France, and had been brought 
to Paris for her education. She was, however, ten years younger 
than the king, and a long period must necessarily elapse before 
the completion of the union. Louis gave signs of feeble health, 
and his advisers, anxious for an aiTangement which miglit provide 

X 



482 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIIl. 

a direct successor to the throne, determined abruptly to break oiF 
the Spanish match, and marry the king elsewhere with the least 
possible delay. Philip Y. had offended Madame de Prie by de- 
clining to appoint her husband a grandee of Spain, and she now 
seized with avidity the tempting opportunity of revenging and re- 
taliating the affront. The young princess was sent back to Mad- 
rid, without even the courtesy of an excuse, in January, 1725, and 
the indignation of the haughty Philip and his court may be more 
easily imagined than described. 

The duke and his mistress, after a fruitless negotiation for the 
hand of an English princess, selected as the consort of Louis the 
amiable daughter of Stanislas Leczynski, the dethroned King of 
Poland, who at that time was living obscurely in Alsace on a 
small pension allowed him by the French government. Their 
purpose in this step was simply to preserve and consolidate their 
own power, since the new queen would naturally be bound by 
strong ties of gratitude to those who had procured her elevation. 
No opposition being made either by Louis or his preceptor Fleury, 
Maria Leczynski was conducted immediately to court, and the 
royal nuptials were celebrated at Fontainebleau on the 4th of 
September, 1725. 

§ 7. The gross insult which Philip had received from France 
occasioned an immediate and not unnatural change in his for- 
eign policy. He reconciled himself to his ancient rival Charles 
VL of Austria, and a treaty, ably negotiated by the famous min- 
ister Ripperda, was concluded betvi^een the two powers in May, 
1725, which amounted to an alliance offensive and defensive 
against France and England. Philip guaranteed the Pragmatic 
Sanction by which the emperor secured the Austrian succession 
to his daughters in default of male issue ; Charles affianced the 
two archduchesses to Philip's two sons by his second marriage, 
and promised his aid in obtaining from England, by force if neces- 
sary, the restitution of Gibraltar and Minorca. This combination 
led to a counter-alliance between France, England, and Prussia ; 
allies were industriously sought for on both sides ; and it seemed 
as if Europe was once more about to plunge into all the miseries 
of a general war. Russia and Poland leagued themselves on this 
occasion with the empire and Spain. 

The wretched maladministration of the Duke of Bourbon, or 
rather of his mistress and her creature Duvernay, soon occasioned 
a change of government in France. Duvernay greatly reduced 
the value of the coinage, and at the same time lowered the rate 
of interest ; he re-established the unpopular impost of the "joyous 
entry," Avhich was leased at twenty-three millions of francs ; and 
a tax of a fiftieth levied upon all landed property, including even 



A.D. 1726-1729. FLEUKY MADE CAKDINAL. 4533 

that of the privileged orders, the nobility and clergy, exposed the 
ministry to general odium. The immediate cause of the Duke of 
Bourbon's disgi-ace was an attempt which he made to supplant 
Fleury, the king's preceptor and confidential friend, in the royal 
favor. Fleury, on discovering this intrigue, instantly retired to 
his country house at Issy, intimating to the king that he found 
himself precluded from taking any farther part in public affairs 
with advantage to his service. Louis, who was sincerely attached 
to the good bishop, was at first inconsolable ; but, taking courage 
at length from the I'epresentations of one of the noblemen in wait- 
ing, he ordered the duke to recall Fleury, who accordingly reap- 
peared at court. Conscious of his powei', he now insisted on the 
dismissal of Madame de Prie and Duvernay : the former was ex- 
iled into Normandy, the latter imprisoned in the Bastile. Short- 
ly afterward, on the lltli of June, 1726, the king, on leaving Ver- 
sailles for Kambouillet, invited the Duke of Bourbon to follow 
him, and bade him, with a gracious smile, " not to be late for sup- 
per." No sooner was Louis gone than a royal order was present- 
ed to the duke commanding him to retire forthwith to his domain 
at Chantilly. Bourbon obeyed in silence, and from that moment 
his power was at an end. Fleury, as every one had foreseen, was 
immediately named his successor. 

§ 8. Fleury, who had considerably passed his seventieth year 
when he assumed the direction of affairs, was a man of honor and 
integrity, of unblemished morals, gentle temper, and moderate pa- 
cific views in politics. He was raised without delay to the rank 
of a cardinal. His administration, which lasted seventeen years, 
was, on the whole, a period of tranquillity, during which France 
repaired her losses, extended her commerce, and increased im- 
mensely in wealth and general prosperity. 

Fleury, by a system of strict economy, materially reduced the 
public bui-dens. The obnoxious tax of the fiftieth was abolished, 
the tallies diminished, and the value df the coinage permanently 
regulated, the mark of silver being fixed at 51 livres. Confidence 
was gradually restored, and the national credit re-established. The 
revenue steadily augmented, until at length no less than 140 mil- 
lions of francs were annually paid into the treasury. 

Fleury exerted himself successfully to prevent a fresh rupture 
of the peace of Europe. Philip of Spain and his impetuous queen 
were determined upon war ; and without any formal announce- 
ment of hostilities, a Spanish fleet and army besieged Gibraltar in 
February, 1727. But this war was of short duration, and a treaty 
of peace was signed at Seville, November 9, 1729, between France, 
Great Britain, and Spain. The contracting parties guaranteed the 
integrity of the possessions of the three crowns in every part of the 



484 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII. 

world ; and, in particular, France and England engaged to main- 
tain the succession of the infant Don Carlos to Parma, Placentia, 
and Tuscany, the darling object of the ambition of Elizabeth Far- 
nese. On the other hand, as the treaty made no explicit mention 
of Gibraltar and Minorca, those possessions were tacitly abandon- 
ed to Great Britain. 

The emperor, thus left alone, soon afterward made overtures 
for an arrangement to the British embassador at Vienna, and in 
March, 1731, signed an agreement with England, by which he 
promised to make no farther resistance to the occupation of the 
Italian duchies by the Spaniards, upon condition that the Prag- 
matic Sanction should be formally guaranteed by Great Britain. 
The Duke of Parma had died a short time previously, leaving no 
issue ; and after some farther delay, the Spanish forces at length 
took possession of his long-coveted dominions in the name of Don 
Carlos, who was acknowledged at the same time as presumptive 
heir to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, the last of the Medici. 

Thus the clouds which had gathered on the political horizon 
were in great measure dispersed, and the storm averted for a 
time ; but the renewal of a friendly understanding between the 
courts of Vienna and St. James's, coupled with the reconciliation 
of the two branches of the house of Bourbon, led eventually to 
an interruption of that friendship between France and England 
which Fleury, to his honor, had so sedulously cultivated, 

§ 9. Notwithstanding the compulsory reception of the bull Uni- 
genitus in France, the Jansenist controversy was by no means 
wholly extinguished. The Bishop of Senez, having published a 
pastoral in opposition to the bull, Avas suspended by a provincial 
council at Embrun, and banished from his diocese. This stirred 
up fresh agitation ; the middle classes throughout the country 
sided strongly Avith the Jansenists, and eagerly seized every op- 
portunity of testifying their opinion. In 1780 Louis XV. pro- 
ceeded to hold a bed of justice in the Parliament ; and in spite 
of the opposition of two thirds of the members, enforced a second 
registration of the papal edict. The Parliament, however, met 
the next day, and drew up protests and remonstrances ; and a 
few months later, on the occasion of a somewhat violent "mande- 
ment" of the new Archbishop of Paris, the same body issued a 
decree asserting, in exaggerated terms, the doctrines of the coun- 
cil of 1682 on the independence of the temporal power. This 
edict Avas immediately canceled by the council of state. The 
Parliament refused to submit, and attempted to expostulate witli 
the king in person at Marly ; Louis, however, declined to receive 
them. Four of the refractory magistrates were now taken into 
custody and sentenced to banishment; upon this their colleagues 



A.D. 1732-1733. PERSECUTION OF THE JANSENISTS. 485 

refused to proceed with the administration of justice, and the 
greater part tendered tlieir resignation. Fleury endeavored to 
accommodate matters, and most of the councilors after a time re- 
turned to Paris ; but, instead of resuming the official business of 
their courts, they spent their time in framing fresh petitions of 
remonstrance. A royal order of August 18, 1732, forbade them 
to receive appeals upon the matters in dispute, and enjoined them 
to recommence their judicial duties. They returned a positive 
refusal, affirming that it was impossible to execute the king's dec- 
laration. Lettres de cachet wex'e forthwith issued, which exiled 
the oftenders from Paris, and confined them in different parts of 
France. 

During the progress of this struggle, the persecuted Jansenists 
took advantage of the excited st&.te of popular feeling to propa- 
gate a belief in a supernatural intervention of Heaven in their fa- 
vor. Miracles in abundance were produced, as demonstrating be- 
yond all controversy the truth of the Augustinian tenets, and the 
credulous multitude, without pausing to inquire and examine, 
greedily swallowed the delusion. The most notable instance of 
this superstitious frenzy was that connected with an ecclesiastic 
named Paris, who, having fallen a victim, at an early age, to the 
excess of his ascetic rigor, was venerated after death as a saint by 
devout crowds who came to pray at his tomb in the cemetery of 
St. Medard. Soon it began to be rumored that miracles had been 
wrought by his remains ; instantaneous cures were effected ; the 
lame, the impotent, the paralytic, seized with convulsive spasms, 
and raised to a state of preternatural ecstasy, suddenly recovered 
the use of their limbs ; various nervous diseases disappeared un- 
der the same influence ; it was even pretended that obstinate 
wounds and cancerous ulcers had been healed. These strange 
phenomena increased to such an extent that the Archbishop of 
Paris published a brief in which he attributed them to the agency 
of Satan. But the extravagant fanaticism of the movement in- 
sured its speedy failure. The " convulsionnaires" began to hold 
nocturnal meetings, which led to scandalous and indecent scenes ; 
the tomb of the Jansenist saint became the general rendezvous of 
the most abandoned and dangerous characters of the capital ; at 
length, in 1732, the government found it necessary to interfere, 
and i]^ entrance to the cemetery Avas closed to the public. It 
was now that some profane humorist wrote over the gate the well- 
known lines, 

" De pai- le Roi, defense a Dieii 
Dc fairc miracles en ce lieu." 

§ 10. The peace of Europe was disturbed in 1733 by complica- 
tions which arose upon the death of Frederick Augustus II., Elect- 



486 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII. 

or of Saxony and King of Poland. Stanislas Leczynski was in- 
vited by his adherents to assert his claims to the vacant thi-one ; 
he accepted the summons, although the renunciation of his rights 
had been made an express condition on the marriage of his daugh- 
ter w^ith the King of France ; proceeded to Warsaw, and, no less 
than sixty thousand Poles having recorded their votes in his favor, 
the Diet solemnly proclaimed him king. But liussia, Austria, and 
Denmark were arrayed in arms against him ; Stanislas appealed 
for support to France ; and Fleury, notwithstanding his pacific 
disposition, could not refuse assistance to the father-in-law of 
Louis. Instead, however, of aiding him largely and eflFectually, 
the French minister contented himself with sending Stanislas a 
subsidy of three millions of livres and a detachment of fifteen 
hundred soldiers. The coalition meanwhile acted with great vig- 
or ; fifty thousand Russians marched upon Warsaw ; Stanislas 
was driven from his capital, and his rival, Augustus III., son of 
the late king, was forthwith crowned at Cracow. 

France having once embarked in war, a powerful party, headed 
by Chauvelin, the minister for foreign affairs, warmly urged its 
prosecution on a moi'e extended scale in other quarters. In con- 
cert with the cabinets of Madrid and Turin, it was agreed to un- 
dertake the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy, and the estab- 
lishment of Don Carlos on the throne of the Two Sicilies. The 
duchy of Milan was to be annexed to Piedmont, so as to consti- 
tute a kingdom of Lombardy ; and Savoy was to be ceded in re- 
turn to France. Having secured the neutrality of England and 
Holland, the confederates declared war against the emperor, who 
was now left without allies, in October, 1733 ; and armies were 
at once directed upon the Alps and the Rhine, the former com- 
manded by the veteran Villars, the latter by the Duke of Berwick. 
Prince Eugene was opposed to Berwick. In 1734 the duke com- 
menced the siege of Philipsburg, but lost his life by a cannon-ball 
while examining the progress of the operations from the top of 
one of the trenches (June 12, 1734). The campaign of this year 
was fatal to the French commanders. The brave Villars, who, 
at the age of eighty-two, had displayed all the ardor and energy 
of a young general, carried all before him in the Milanese, and 
was preparing to pursue the Imperialists beyond the Po, when he 
fell ill from excessive fatigue, and expired at Turin withinA week 
after the Duke of Berwick had fallen at Philipsburg. Marshal 
Coigny, who succeeded to the command, fought a great battle 
with the Austrians near Parma, on the 29th of June, which, after 
tremendous slaughter on both sides, terminated without certain 
result. Othar engagements followed, but the campaign concluded 
indecisively. 



A.D. 1734-1739. TREATY OF VIENNA. 487 

Meanwhile an army of twenty thousand Spaniards entered the 
territory of Naples, and, supported by a fleet, marched with little 
or no opposition upon the capital. Don Carlos made his solemn 
entry into the city on the 15th of May, 1734, and took undisputed 
possession of the throne of the Two Sicilies. Within six months 
the Bourbons were in triumphant possession of the whole of the 
Neapolitan monarchy. 

A suspension of arms was announced, through the mediation 
of Great Britain and Holland, in February, 1735, and in the fol- 
lowing October the preliminaries of peace were signed at Vienna. 
By this treaty the emperor ceded Naples and Sicily to Don Car- 
los, receiving Tuscany and Parma in exchange. Stanislas Lec- 
zynski, in return for his abdication of the throne of Poland, was 
invested with the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, which, after his 
death, were to be annexed to Ihe crown of France. The Duke 
of Lorraine, in compensation, was to succeed to the ducal throne 
of Tuscany on the- death of the present possessor. A few places 
in the Milanese were granted to the King of Sardinia ; and, last- 
ly, the emperor obtained, as the price of his concessions, a joint 
guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction by the crowns of France, 
Spain, and Sardinia. Nearly three years passed before the provi- 
sions of this treaty were completely executed. The Duke of Lor- 
raine, who had espoused the Archduchess Maria Theresa, heiress 
of the house of Austria, was put in possession of the duchy of 
Tuscany in July, 1737 ; and the definitive Treaty of Vienna was 
signed on the 18th of November, 1738. 

§ 11. This short war had been maintained by France with hon- 
or and advantage, and its close marks the only brilliant moment 
in the administi-ation of Cardinal Fleury. For several years, from 
the cessation of hostilities in 1735, his government pursued its usu- 
al peaceful course; but in 1739 an unfortunate quarrel between 
Great Britain and Spain, arising from the contraband trade car- 
ried on by the former power with the Spanish American colonies, 
threatened once more to drag France into the vortex of war. Sir 
Eobert Walpole was constrained, by the violence of popular feeling, 
to declare war with Spain in October, 1739 ; Fleury labored earn- 
estly, but unsuccessfully, to mediate between the hostile parties ; 
and upon the capture of Porto Bello by the English Admiral Ver- 
non, Spain formally demanded the armed assistance of France, in 
conformity with the terms of their alliance. The union which 
had just taken place between a French princess and one of the 
sons of the King of Spain made it the more difficult to resist this 
appeal. Fleury, however, unwilling to sacrifice his long-standing 
friendship with England, still attempted to negotiate ; but, while 
affairs remained in this precarious state, the death of the Emperor 



488 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII. 

Charles VI., on the 20th of October, 1740, created fresh and dan- 
gerous elements of discord, and led to an embroilment which be- 
came general throughout Europe. 

Notwithstanding the positive engagements by which the hered- 
itary possessions of the house of Austria had been so recently 
guaranteed to the Archduchess Maria Theresa, the rights of that 
princess were now vehemently contested by all the great, powers 
of Europe, with the exception of Great Britain. No less than five 
princes — the Elector of Bavaria, the King of Spain, the Elector 
of Saxony, the King of Sardinia, and the King of Prussia — laid 
claim to different portions of the Austrian empire ; and France, 
although she demanded nothing for herself, was bound by a prom- 
ise made by Louis XIV. at the peace of Utrecht, to support the 
young Elector of Bavaria as a candidate for the imperial crown. 
Fleury was now beginning to sin^ beneath the infirmities of ex- 
treme old age ; he was besieged on all sides by warlike solicita- 
tions which he lacked the courage and firmness to resist ; and at 
length, yielding to the national impulse, he signed a treaty of al- 
liance with the Elector of Bavaria in May, 1741, Avhich was fol- 
lowed soon afterward by a secret compact with the most formi- 
dable of the opponents of the young archduchess, the ambitious 
Frederick 11. of Prussia. The confederates projected a partition 
of the Austrian dominions, by wLich Maria Theresa was to be re- 
duced to Hungary, Austria Proper, and the Netherlands, while 
the remainder of the empire was to be divided between the sov- 
ereigns of Bavaria, Prussia, and Spain. Frederick of Prussia, 
taking advantage of the defenseless and forlorn position of Maria 
Theresa, had already overrun the Austrian province of Silesia, and 
had distinguished himself by the great victory of Molwitz. By 
the treaty of Nymphenburg, France engaged to take the field with 
two armies, one of which was to watch and control the Elector of 
Hanover (George II.), while the other united itself with the troops 
of the Elector of Bavaria. 

The Franco-Bavarians crossed the Austrian frontier in Sep- 
tember, 1741, and in the course of a few days made themselves 
masters of Linz, Passau, and other places in the valley of the Dan- 
ube ; their advanced parties were even pushed within a few leagues 
of the gates of Vienna. The Prussians at the same moment pen- 
etrated into Moravia, while the Elector of Saxony invaded Bohe- 
mia. The proud house of Austria seemed doomed to inevitable 
and total ri.in. At this crisis the young Queen of Hungary dis- 
played an intrepidity and heroism worthy of her illustrious race. 
She repaired to the Hungarian Diet at Presburg, harangued the 
assembly in pathetic and stirring language, and commended her- 
self, her children, and the cause of the empire to their well-known 



A.D. 1742, 1743. KETRKAT FROM PRAGUE. 439 

patriotism, fidelity, and courage. The gallant Magyars responded 
with tumultuous enthusiasm, waving their sabres, and shouting 
" We will die for our king Maria Theresa !" The population rose 
en masse, and, the movement spreading into Crot^and Dalmatia, 
a powerful army was soon marshaled for the defense of the em- 
pire. The Elector of Bavaria, recoiling before this display of vig- 
or, abandoned his march upon Vienna, and turned aside into Bo- 
lieraia ; he took possession of Prague, and was crowned in that 
city in November. He next proceeded to Frankfort, where the 
diet proclaimed him emperor, by the title of Charles VII., on the 
24th of January, 1742. But meanwhile the forces of Maria The- 
resa, largely subsidized by England, advanced to the succor of 
Prague. The French army, commanded by Marshals de Belleisle 
and Broglie, were at length compelled to evacuate this city, and 
commenced a difficult and calamitous retreat across the mountains 
to Egra. After enduring terrible sufferings and losses, the survi- 
vors of this gallant host, reduced from fifty thousand to twelve 
thousand men, regained the French frontier in the beginning of 
January, 1743. 

§ 12. Shortly after this disastrous repulse of the French arms, 
Cardinal Fleury sunk under the accumulated weight of his great 
age and the labors and anxieties of his station, and expired at Issy, 
in his ninetieth year, on the 29th January, 1743. He had retain- 
ed office too long for his credit ; the latter part of his administra- 
tion was marked by feebleness and incapacity ; and the exhaust- 
ing conflict in which he left France involved was imputed, not 
without reason, to his want of vigor and determination. Louis 
XV. now affected, after the example of his predecessor, to take 
the government into his own hands, and consequently appointed 
no prime minister. His character and habits, however, made him 
altogether unequal to the task ; and the country was left for some 
years to the disunited management of the ministers presiding over 
different departments, the most prominent being the Chancellor 
D'Aguesseau, the war minister D'Argenson, Maurepas, the min- 
ister of marine, and Cardinal Tencin. The influence which really 
predominated in the state was that of the king's mistress, the 
Duchess of Chateauroux, the youngest of four sisters of the fam- 
ily of Nesle who had successively yielded to his licentious pas- 
sion. Madame de Chateauroux was a woman of talent, spirit, 
and ambition, and did her utmost to rouse Louis from liis consti- 
tutional indolence and torpor to a bold, energetic policy, better 
befitting the ruler of a great and gallant nation. 

New combinations were now. formed unfavorable to the inter- 
ests of France. Sir Robert Walpole having been compelled to re- 
sign, George II., whose assistance of Maria Theresa had hitherto 

X2 



490 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII, 

been confined to subsidies, prepared to enter more seriously into 
the struggle ; and without any regular declaration of war, a com- ■ 
bined army of fifty thousand English, Hanoverians, and Hessians 
assembled in ^jl^ Netherlands, and directed its march upon the 
valley of the Main, to join the Austrians under Prince Charles 
of Lorraine. The King of Prussia, after his unprincipled seizure 
of Silesia, had concluded the treaty of Breslau with Maria The- 
resa, by which, in return for the cession of the conquered province, 
he engaged to observe a strict neutrality during the rest of the 
war. The King of Naples, alarmed by the sudden appearance of 
a British fleet whicli threatened to bombard his capital, had in like 
manner abandoned the coalition. The King of Sardinia was in- 
duced to take a similar step ; and France was thus left to bear 
the brunt of the struggle single-handed. 

The King of England joined his troops in person at AschafFen- 
burg, accompanied by his son the Duke of Cumberland, but found, 
to his dismay, that the French under Marshal de Noailles had oc- 
cupied all the commanding positions in the neighborhood so advan- 
tageously that his farther progress was altogether impeded. The 
allies were soon greatly straitened for provisions, and it became 
necessary to commence a retrograde movement toward Hanau. 
Their line of retreat was, however, intercepted by the vigilant 
foresight of the French marshal, Avho had bridged the river at 
Seligenstadt, and posted a powerful division of his army in the 
defile of Dettingen, through which lay the route of the enemy. 
The situation of the allies seemed desperate, but they were ex- 
tricated by an error of the Duke of Grammont, the French officer 
commanding at Dettingen, who, contrary to the express orders of 
his superior, imprudently abandoned the defile, and attacked the 
English in the open ground in such a way as to render useless 
the French batteries established on the opposite bank of the Main. 
This entirely disconcerted the arrangements of Noailles, and the 
battle which ensued (June 27, 1743), notwithstanding the brilliant 
valor of his army, especially of the household troops, terminated 
in his defeat, with a loss of five thousand men. The allies accom- 
plished their retreat in safety, but reaped no other advantage from 
their success. Yet the victory of Dettingen was celebrated with 
extraordinary rejoicings both in London and at Vienna. 

France having declared war against Great Britain in March, 
1744, Louis XV. proceeded, for the first time, to place himself at 
the head of his army. It was commanded under him by Maurice, 
count of Saxony, aftei'ward so celebrated as Marshal Saxe ; a 
natural son of Augustus II., king of Poland, who had acted as 
lieutenant general to Belleisle in the campaign of Prague, and was 
accounted one of the ablest officers in the French service. Louis 



A.D. 1744, 1745. WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. 491 

invaded the Netherlands in the middle of JNIay, and reduced sev- 
eral towns in succession ; but Frederick of Prussia now suddenly- 
violated his engagement at Breslau, and resolved once more to 
make common cause with France in opposition to the house of 
Austria. An alliance was signed at Frankfort in June between 
France, Prussia, the Emperor Charles VII., and Sweden ; and 
Frederick, resuming his aggressive projects, prepared to pour his 
legions into Bohemia, having stipulated that half that province 
should be united to his crown. 

Upon reaching Metz in August, 1744, Louis was attacked by a 
dangerous malignant fever, and was soon reduced to the last ex- 
tremity. In this condition his confessor, by dint of urgent en- 
treaty, prevailed with him to banish from his presence his mistress, 
Madame de Chateauroux, who had accompanied him in the cam- 
paign, and to reconcile himself with his neglected wife. Louis 
Avas ere long given over by the physicians, and received the last 
sacraments ; but a violent remedy prescribed by an empiric ar- 
i-ested the disease, and in the course of a few days he was pro- 
nounced out of danger. This result was hailed by a general out- 
burst of popular joy and congratulation ; all the churches of the 
kingdom resounded with fervent thanksgivings ; and the king was 
saluted by his warm-hearted subjects by an appellation which he 
little merited, that of " Bien-aime," or well-beloved. On witness- 
ing the loyal transports excited by his recovery, Louis could not help 
exclaiming " What have I done, that they should love me so much ?" 

§ 13. An event occurred in January, 1745, by which the pos- 
ture of affairs was materially altered ; this was the death of the 
Emperor Charles VII., who expired at Munich, worn out as much 
by mortification and chagrin as by the effects of disease. The 
new Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian Joseph, though urged by 
France to renew the pretensions of his family to the imperial 
crown, soon effected an accommodation with the Queen of Hun- 
gary, renounced all claims upon the Austrian succession, accepted 
the Pragmatic Sanction, and engaged to give his vote in the Diet 
to Maria Theresa's husband, Francis of Lorraine, Grand-Duke of 
Tuscany. Upon these terms the young elector recovered all his 
hereditary dominions. As this arrangement decided the point 
which had originally given occasion to the war, the French gov- 
ernment now became desirous of peace, and made overtures with 
that object ; but the haughty and resentful obstinacy of the Queen 
of Hungary caused the negotiation to fail in its commencement ; 
and as Great Britain, by whom the Austrian troops were chiefly 
paid, consented to continue her subsidies, the war was necessarily 
prolonged, although its only purpose henceforth, so far as France 
was concerned, Avas to procure an honorable peace. 



492 LOUIS XV. CiiAr. XXIII. 

Marshal Saxe, with seventy thousand men, invested Tournay 
in April, when Louis joined his camp in person, attended by the 
dauphin. The allies, under the orders of the Duke of Cumber- 
land, who was assisted by the veteran Marshal Ivonigsegg, re- 
solved to relieve that fortress ; on their approach, the French com- 
mander, leaving a strong division before Tournay, drew out his 
army in order of battle on the right bank of the Scheldt, having 
in front of his centre the village of Fontenoy. The engagement 
took place on the 11th of May, 1745 ; it was long and desperate- 
ly contested, but after six hours' fighting victory seemed on the 
point of declaring for the allies ; two of the French lines were in 
complete disoi'der, and the reserve alone, composed of the house- 
hold troops, remained unbroken, with a small battery of four 
heavy cannon. These pieces opened a vigorous and well-sustain- 
ed fire upon the advancing columns of the English, Avhich, being 
ill supported and even abandoned by the Dutch, at length waver- 
ed and fell into confusion ; the French guards charged at the same 
moment, and triumphantly retrieved the fortunes of the day, driv- 
ing the enemy from the field with a loss of near ten thousand men. 
The victory was dearly purchased, at least seven thousand having 
fallen on the side of the French. The results of the battle of Fon- 
tenoy were important ; Tournay, Ghent, Bruges, Oudenarde, and 
several other principal cities of Flanders, surrendered almost with- 
out resistance to Marshal Saxe. Louis, on his retui'n to Paris, 
was welcomed with universal enthusiasm as a conqueror. 

On the other hand, Maria Theresa had the satisfaction of see- 
ing her husband elevated to the throne of the empire in Septem- 
ber, 1745, and soon afterward received proposals of peace from 
the King of Prussia, to which, after some hesitation, she consent- 
ed ; and the treaty of Dresden, which included, besides Prussia, 
the Palatinate and Saxony, was signed at the close of the year. 
The empress was thus enabled to send large re-enforcements to 
her armies in Lombardy; the Austrians took the field in 1746 
Avith greatly superior numbers, and gained a glorious and decisive 
victory over the combined French and Spaniards at Piacenza on 
the IGth of June. The French fled in total confusion to Genoa, 
and, rapidly continuing their retreat along the sea-coast, re-enter- 
ed France in September. The victorious Austrians pursued, 
crossed the Var, and plundered and laid waste the country as far 
as the Durance. Marshal Belleisle, displaying in this moment of 
peril great skill and the most brilliant courage, checked the march 
of the invaders, and forced them to recross the frontier with loss 
in February, 1747. 

After the battle of Fontenoy, Marshal Saxe, vigorously pursu- 
ing his career of victory, invested Brussels in the middle of win- 



A.D. 1747. STRUGGLE FOR POWER IN THE EAST. 493 

ter, and forced that capital to surrender after a siege of three 
weeks. The capitulation of Antwerp followed in May, 1746, and 
that of the fortress of Namur in September. The French gener- 
al then concentrated his whole army, gained a decisive victoi-y 
over the Austrians, under Charles of Lorraine, at Eaucoux, on tlie 
Meuse, near Lie'ge, and became master of the whole of Belgium. 
In the following year Louis declared war against Holland (17 th 
of April, 1747). The French army, numbering one hundred and 
twenty thousand men, under the orders of Marshal Saxe, imme- 
diately crossed the Dutch frontier, and in less than a montli took 
possession of the whole line of forti-esses which defend the Scheldt 
from the sea to Antwerp. These startling successes produced an 
insurrection in Holland in favor of the house of Nassau, and Wil- 
liam IV. of Orange was proclaimed stadtholder by the popular par- 
ty. The prince, however, was possessed of no particular talent or 
sagacity, and proved quite incapable of arresting the triumphs of 
the invader. Great Britain now succeeded in inducing Kussia to 
join the confederation against France ; and the court of St. Peters- 
burg engaged to place at the disposal of the allies a tieet of fifty sail, 
and a land force of thirty-seven thousand men. But, before these 
succors could arrive, the consummate generalship of the French 
marshal had made him once more a conqueror at Lawfeld, near 
Maestricht, whei'e the Duke of Cumberland, after a murderous 
conflict, was routed with a loss of eight thousand men, and forced 
to retire beyond the Meuse. 

§ 14. While France and Englan^i thus contended for predom- 
inance in Europe, a similar struggle had commenced in the East 
Indies, Avhere the influence and authority of France were at this 
time decidedly superior to those of her rival. The establishments 
founded by the Compagnie des Indes — Pondicherry, Chanderna- 
gore, Calicut, Surat, Mahe — were in the most flourishing condi- 
tion ; and the power of France in the East had been greatly ad- 
vanced by the efforts and policy of three men of first-rate ability, 
Dumas, La Bourdonnais, and Dupleix. The active genius of Du- 
pleix had conceived the idea of an immense French empire ex- 
tending over Bengal, the Deccan, and the Carnatic ; and with this 
object he labored to associate the native races, especially the Mah- 
rattas, with the various European settlers — French, Portuguese, 
Danes, Dutch — in one irresistible confederation against Great 
Britain. La Bourdonnais and Dupleix attacked the English set- 
tlement of Madras in September, 1746, and after a short resist- 
ance all the British subjects, civil and military, were compelled to 
surrender themselves prisoners of war. Mutual jealousy now 
produced a violent rupture between the two French commanders, 
which ended in the recall of La Bourdonnais ; on reaching France 



494 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIII. 

he was consigned to the Bastile on the accusation of his late col- 
league, and died in prison some years afterward. Madras was 
recovered by the English with the aid of the Nabob of the Car- 
natic ; and in the summer of 1748 the fleet of Admiral Boscaw- 
en, in its turn, attacked Pondicherry ; the siege was formed, and 
carried on for two months, but with total want of success. Du- 
pleix made a heroic defense, and, the enemy being at length com- 
pelled to retreat with signal loss, his reputation, together with 
that of the nation which he represented, rose to the highest pitch 
throughout India. 

§ 15. The final operation of this sanguinary war was the suc- 
cessful siege of Maestricht by Marshal Saxe in April, 1748. A 
suspension of hostilities was declared immediately on the fall of 
that fortress, and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in the 
following October. All conquests were mutually restored be- 
tween France and England ; the duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and 
Guastalla were ceded by Austria to Don Philip of Spain ; the 
possession of Silesia was confirmed to the King of Prussia ; Francis 
I. was recognized as emperor, and the Pragmatic Sanction once 
more guaranteed. It seems to have been expected by the allies 
that, after the distinguished success of the French arms, and es- 
pecially after such important conquests in the Low Countries, 
Louis would have exacted either some territorial extension, or 
some other advantage. That monarch, however, announced that 
he wished to negotiate, not like a merchant, but like a prince ; 
and France obtained no sort of recompense for the sacrifices of 
this bloody and exhausting conflict, which had ruined her com- 
merce, crippled her navy, and augmented her national debt by 
twelve hundred millions of livres. Nor was England at all moi'e 
fortunate. All the substantial benefits secured by the peace were 
shared between Prussia and the empire. 




Abbey uf Oluny, in Buvgimdy, before tlie Eevolution.* 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

KEIGN OF LOUIS XV. CONTINUED. II. FROM THE PEACE OF AIX-LA- 
CHAPELLE TO THE DEATH OP LOUIS. A.D. 1748-1774. 

§ 1. Private Life of Louis XV. ; Madame de Pompadour; the Pare aux 
Cerfs ; Machault Comptroller General of Finances ; Beaumont Archbish- 
op of Paris; the "Billets de Confession." §2. Struggle between the 
Court and the Parliament of Paris ; Attempt of Damiens on the Life of 
Louis ; the Parliament recalled. § 3. War breaks out with England ; hos- 
tilities in North America. § 4. Alliance of France with the Empress Ma- 
ria Theresa ; the Seven Years' War ; successful Expedition of the French 
against Minorca ; Admiral Byng; Convention of Kloster-seven. § 5. Ex- 
ploits of Frederick of Prussia ; Battles of Rosbach and Leuthen ; Prince 
Ferdinand of Brunswick. § 6. The War in North America ; the Mar- 
quess of Montcalm ; General Wolfe ; Capture of Quebec ; Loss of the 
French Possessions in Canada ; the Duke of Choiseul Minister ; Naval 
Engagements ; Battle of Minden. § 7. The Family Compact ; Reverses 
of the King of Prussia ; Negotiation for Peace ; definitive Treaty of Paris. 
§ 8. Suppression of the Jesuits in France ; Death of Madame de Pompa- 
dour, of the Dauphin, and of the Queen ; Lorraine and Bar annexed to 
France. § 9. Madame du Barry ; Annexation of Corsica to France. 
§ 10. Coalition against the Duke of Choiseul; Proceedings against the 
Duke of Aiguillon, Governor of Brittany ; Dismissal of Choiseul ; Sup- 
pression of the Parliament of Paris; the "Conseils Supe'rieurs." § 11. 
Terray Minister of Finance; the "Pacte de Famine;" Partition ofPo- 

* This church was the largest in France, having been 580 feet in length 
and 120 feet in width. It was commenced in 1089, and dedicated in 1131. 
It was destroyed in the Revolution. 



49G LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

land; Death of Louis XV. § 12. The "New Opinions;" the Encyclo- 
pasdists ; Jean Jacques Eousseau ; Agitation of the Public Mind ; Aliena- 
tion of the People from the Throne ; clamorous Demands of Keform. 
§ 1. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle procured for Europe sever- 
al years of tranquillity, and, for the most part, of progress and 
prosperity. France had attained a proud eminence of political 
power, and was rapidly increasing in material wealth, intellectual 
activity, and all the refinements of modern civilization ; neverthe- 
less, her condition, if regarded in a social and moral point of view, 
was sucli as to excite in all thoughtful minds grave misgiving 
and alarm. Louis XV. had given proofs, at intervals during the 
war, of considerable intelligence, energy, and courage ; but no 
sooner was peace restored than he relapsed at once into his habits 
of voluptuous indolence, and drowned all thought of his duties as 
a sovereign in the practice of unrestrained debauchery. Upon 
the death of Madame de Chateauroux, the royal affections were 
transferred with heartless levity to a new mistress, Madame Le- 
normant d'Etioles, a person of low birth, but of decided talent and 
great accomplishments, who was soon afterward created Marchion- 
ess of Pompadour. Louis abandoned himself slavishly to her in- 
fluence, and for twenty years she was the most powerful person- 
age in France. All the great affairs of state were discussed and 
arranged under her guidance. Generals, ministers, embassadors, 
transacted business in her boudoir ; she dispensed the whole pat- 
ronage of the government ; the rich prizes of the Church, of the 
army, of the magistrature, were to be obtained solely through her 
favor. When her personal attractions began to wane, she had 
the address to maintain her empire over the king, by sanctioning, 
if she did not actually suggest, the infamous establishment called 
the Pare aux Cerfs^ which was neither more nor less than a se- 
raglio, after the fashion of the Oriental monarchs, formed by Louis 
in a beautiful retreat belonging to his mistress near Versailles. 
The favorite thus secured herself against the rise of any danger- 
ous rival who might dispute her supremacy ; but the spectacle of- 
fered thenceforth by the French court was a flagrant outrage to 
every principle of public decency, and produced results in the high- 
est degree prejudicial to the royal authority. 

The financial condition of the kingdom, which had greatly im- 
proved under the ministry of Fleury, became once more seriously 
damaged through the reckless extravagance of the king and the 
scandalous misgovernment of Madame de Pompadour and her 
creatures. The comptroller general, Machault, was entirely de- 
voted to the marchioness ; and with his connivance she com- 
menced the ruinous practice of drawing bills at sight {acquits cm 
comptant) upon the treasury, under the king's signature, and that 



A.D. 1749-1753. BEAUMONT AKCHBISHOP OF PAEIS. 497 

to a prodigious extent : matters thus fell into inextricable confu- 
sion. In 17J:9 Machault imposed a tax of a twentieth upon all 
incomes, including those of the privileged orders. This excited 
general discontent, and was successfully resisted, especially by the 
clergy. It was followed up, however, by an edict of mortmain, 
which prohibited the foundation of any new religious establish- 
ment, and thus depi'ived the Church of future endowments; while, 
at the same time, an official survey {cadastre) was ordered of all 
ecclesiastical property, with the avowed purpose of taxing it for 
the benefit of the state. Upon this the clergy throughout the 
kingdom became violently exasperated, and their indignation found 
vent in measures of inquisitorial tyranny, which, however they 
might have been tolerated in medijeval times, now only served to 
bring them into general and deserved odium. The Archbishop of 
Paris, Christophe de Beaumont, a prelate of austere virtue and 
earnest but intolerant zeal, renewed the persecution against the 
Jansenists, who were supposed to be the authors of the late ob- 
noxious edicts. The cures of his diocese received orders to de- 
mand from the sick certificates of confession attesting their ac- 
ceptance of the bull Unigenitus, in default of which they were to 
be denied the last sacraments of the Church, and, by consequence, 
the privilege of Christian burial. This led to a struggle which 
embroiled all orders and parties in the state, and shook the very 
foundation of society. The cure of St. Etienne-du-Mont refused 
the sacraments to an ecclesiastic suspected of Jansenism. The 
Parliament of Paris promptly interposed, and caused the priest to 
be arrested. The agitation spread throughout the country ; the 
bishops fulminated angry pastorals against the Pai'liaments ; the 
Parliaments ordered these documents to be publicly burnt ; the 
court, siding alternately with both parties, exposed itself to deris- 
ion and contempt ; and the general confusion turned to the advant- 
age of a dangerous school now rapidly advancing in influence, 
that of the philosophers or free-thinkers, headed by Voltaire, who 
scoffed at ail religion, and were industriously plotting that total 
overthrow of established ideas and principles which was eventual- 
ly accomplished in the terrible Revolution. 

§ 2. The contest reached its crisis in 1753, when, upon an at- 
tempt made by the Parliament to seize the temporalities of the in- 
flexible archbishop, and bring him to trial in the Court of Peers, 
the king banished and imprisoned most of the refractory magis- 
trates, and established a provisional court, called the Koyal Cham- 
ber, to undertake their duties. This measure excited such de- 
termined opposition, that Louis was compelled to recall the Par- 
liament in the following year. A compromise Avas now effected 
through the good offices of the Cardinal de llochefoucauld. The 



498 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

bishops jigreed to give up insisting on the hillets de confession upon 
condition that the tax of the twentieth should no longer be en- 
forced upon the clergy. Machault was transferred from the min- 
istry of the finances to that of the marine. The Royal Chamber 
was suppressed, and the Parliament re-entered Paris in triumph 
on the 4th of September, 1754, having acquired, by its spirited re- 
sistance to the court, the warm sympathies of the great mass of 
the nation. The occasion chosen for this reconciliation was that 
of the birth of the Duke of Berry, second son of the dauphin, aft- 
erward the unfortunate Louis XVI. 

The Church party, however, although by their turbulent, per- 
secuting policy they had gained their point of remaining exempt 
from ordinary taxation, evaded the terms of the late agreement, 
and persisted in demanding the vexatious billets de confession. 
The court upon this changed sides, banished the archbishop to 
liis country house, and dismissed several other prelates to their 
dioceses. The Parliament, resolving to make the most of their 
advantage, now renewed their attacks upon the bull Unigenitus, 
suppressed a brief issued by the Pope with a view of settling the 
dispute, and obstinately refused to register an edict imposing some 
additional taxes in preparation for the war which M^as about to 
commence. This contumacious conduct was met by a vigorous 
stroke of despotic authority. Holding a bed of justice at Ver- 
sailles in December, 1756, Louis enforced the registration of the 
edicts in his presence, strictly forbade the Parliament to interfere 
at all with the ecclesiastical question in dispute, suppressed two 
of the chambers, and ordered that no member should henceforth 
have the right of voting till he had completed ten years of serv- 
ice. The magistrates withdrew in silence ; and the next day no 
less than one hundred and eighty of their number sent in their 
resignation. 

Mui-murs and indignation now resounded on all sides, and Par- 
is seemed ready, had the instigation been given at the moment, to 
break out into revolt. As it was, this ebullition of popular wrath 
impelled a crazy fanatic named Damiens to make an attempt upon 
the life of the sovereign. As Louis was stepping into his carriage 
at Versailles on the 5th of January, 1757, Damiens mingled with 
the crowd, and stabbed the king in the side with a penknife. The 
Avound was very slight, but considerable alarm was excited, as it 
was feared that the weapon might have been poisoned. Damiens 
declared that his purpose was to punish the king for his tyran- 
nical treatment of the Parliament, and to force him to take meas- 
ures for preventing the refusal of the sacraments. After being 
cruelly tortured, the wretched criminal was executed with all the 
frightful barbarities which the law denounced on parricides ; his 



A.D. 1754-175G. WAR BREAKS OUT WITH ENGLAND. 499 

limbs were torn with red-hot pincers, and boiling melted lead w^as 
poured into the wounds ; after which his body was dragged in 
pieces by four horses, and the remains burnt and scattered to the 
winds. c 

This catastrophe led to a reaction of feeling among the con- 
tending parties, and at length put a period to their tedious strife. 
The exiled members of the Parliament were recalled, and the pre- 
lates were reinstated, upon the understanding that they would 
desist from all persecutions with regard to the bull TJnigenitus. 
The ministers Machault and D'Argenson were dismissed. A veil 
of oblivion was thrown over the past, and peace was apparently 
restored ; but neither the Jesuits nor the Parliaments had any 
reason in the sequel to congratulate themselves on the conse- 
quences of this unhappy conflict. 

§ 3. While France was thus convulsed by internal dissension, 
her ancient and inextinguishable spirit of rivalry with England 
involved her once more in hostilities abroad. Various gi'ounds 
of complaint existed between the two governments ; and, in par- 
ticular, ditferences had arisen with regard to the boundary be- 
tween the British colony of Nova Scotia and the P^-ench posses- 
sions in Canada, which had been left im determined by the treat- 
ies of Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle. The English claimed the 
whole line of the St. Lawrence, as far as Lakes Erie and Onta- 
rio ; the French desired to limit them strictly to the peninsula 
of Acadia, or Nova Scotia proper. A commission was appointed 
to deliberate on the question ; but, in the mean time, the French 
erected a series of forts along the course of the Ohio, in order to 
connect their widely-separated provinces of Canada and Louisi- 
ana. This was resented by Great Britain as an aggression, the 
banks of the Ohio being regarded as belonging to the colony of 
New England ; remonstrances were made, but unavailingly ; and 
in May, 1754, an English force under Major Washington (after- 
ward the great American hero) was sent to the Ohio, with orders 
to interrupt and put a stop to the French operations. A French 
officer, proceeding with a small detachment to summon the in- 
truders to decamp, was surprised and cut to pieces with his whole 
party ; and the French promptly avenged his fall by attacking 
AVashington in his intrenchments, and forcing him to sign a ca- 
pitulation, by which he sacrificed a half-finished fort, with its ar- 
tillery, and quitted the contested territory. 

After this, war was no longer a matter of uncertainty; but still 
it was not actually declared till January, 175G, though hostilities 
had been cai-ried on by sea during the whole of the preceding year. 

§ 4. Alliances were diligently negotiated by both the hostile 
courts. Louis XV., to the astonishment of Europe, concluded a 



500 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

treaty with the imperial house of Austria, which for upward of 
two hundred years had been the inveterate enemy of France. 
The empress-queen, Maria Theresa, had adroitly flattered the van- 
ity of Madame de Pompadour by an autograph letter in which she 
gave her the title of " ma cousine ;" the favorite, charmed with 
tliis condescension, henceforth set her mind on contracting a close 
friendship with the court of Vienna ; and, the views of both par- 
ties tending to the same point, this strange and unnatural com- 
bination was arranged without difficulty. 

France and Austria now leagued themselves for the partition 
of Prussia by the treaty of Versailles (May 1, 1756), to which Rus- 
sia, Saxony, and Sweden afterward acceded. Frederick of Prus- 
sia, having been apprised of this confederacy through the treachery 
of a clerk in the Saxon service, was the first to strike a vigorous 
blow by seizing Leipsic and Dresden. Such was the origin of the 
mighty struggle known under the name of the Seven Years' War. 

Great Britain thereupon entered into a close alliance with Prus- 
sia, and the Duke of Cumberland took the command of the Han- 
overian army to oppose the French on the Lower Rhine. But 
the French, under the command of the Duke of Richelieu, forced 
the English commander to evacuate almost the whole of Hanover 
and Brunswick, and at length to sign an inglorious convention at 
Kloster-seven on the Elbe, by which Hanover was surrendered to 
the enemy until the conclusion of a peace, and the Hanoverians 
and other troops were disbanded and dismissed to their respective 
territories. The Duke of Richelieu had distinguished himself in 
the preceding year by a successful expedition against the island of 
Minorca. The English fleet under Admiral Byng had failed to 
relieve Fort St. Philip, had allowed the French squadron to escape 
without bringing it to a serious engagement, and had retired to 
Gibraltar. Port Mahon was thus abandoned to its fate, and sur- 
rendered to the French after a gallant resistance of nearly three 
months. The news of this affair was received with violent indig- 
nation in England. Admiral Byng was tried by a court-martial, 
found guilty of negligence and error of judgment, and, notwitli- 
standing every exertion to save his life, was shot in Portsmouth 
harbor in March, 1757. 

§ 5. Frederick of Prussia, pursuing his successes, burst into 
Bohemia in May, 1757, and routed the Austrians in a desperate 
battle under the walls of Pi'ague. Flushed with victory, he now 
rashly attacked a far superior force of the Iinperialists under Mar- 
shal Daun, and sustained a severe defeat, which compelled him to 
repass the Bohemian frontier into Saxony. Prussia was invaded 
at the same moment by an army of seventy thousand Russians ; 
the Swedes landed in Pomerania ; the Austrians threatened Sile- 



A.U. 1757, 1758. HOSTILITIES IN NOKTH AMERICA. 501 

sia ; and a second French army, under the Prince of Soubise, with 
an auxiliary corps of Germans, advanced upon Saxony. Fred- 
crick, like a lion at bay, confronted these hosts of enemies with 
dauntless courage and consummate military genius. He first turn- 
ed his arms against the Franco-Austrians, over whom he gained 
a splendid victory on the 3d of November, at the village of Ros- 
bach, the enemy, although vastly superior in number, being driven 
from the field in total disorder, with a loss of twelve thousand 
killed and wounded. A second victory over the Austrians at 
Leuthen, on the 5th of December, concluded the campaign, which 
had been signally unfavorable to France and her allies. 

The war was ^ow prosecuted Avith redoubled energy by En- 
gland, under the powerful ministry of William Pitt, afterward the 
great Lord Chatham. An enormous subsidy was granted to the 
King of Prussia ; the humiliating convention of Kloster-seven was 
indignantly repudiated ; the troops of Hanover, Brunswick, and 
Hesse were recalled to their standards; and the army was placed 
under the command of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the ablest 
of the lieutenants of the King of Prussia, who not only drove the 
French out of Hanover, but even over the Rhine, whither he fol- 
lowed them, and gained, on the left bank, a victory at Creveld. 
The Prince of Soubise, however, having rallied and reunited his 
army after the disaster of Rosbach, re-entered Hanover, and gave 
battle to the allies at Lutterberg on the 7th of October with de- 
cided success. Meanwhile Frederick of Prussia defended himself 
with his usual skill and vigor against the Austrians and Russians, 
beating the former at Schweidnitz in Silesia, and totally over- 
throwing the latter in the sanguinary battle of Zorndorf. The 
Russians retired into Poland, and, although Frederick received a 
severe check from Marshal Daun at Hochkirchen, the Imperial- 
ists were unable to keep their ground in Saxony. 

§ 6. The hostilities in North America were marked by brilliant 
valor and fluctuating fortune. The city of Louisburg, assailed by 
General Amherst and Admiral Boscawen, capitulated after a siege 
of six weeks ; a French squadron was burnt in the harbor, and 
near six thousand soldiers and sailors remained prisoners. The 
whole island of Cape Breton now fell into the hands of the English, 
and they obtained the command of the navigation of the St. Law- 
rence. An attempt to penetrate into Canada, however, was re- 
pulsed by the Marquess of Montcalm, the governor of that prov- 
ince, an officer of distinguished talent and merit; General Aber- 
cromby totally failed in an attack on Fort Ticonderoga, between 
Lakes George and Charaplain, and lost upward of two thousand 
men. But the gallant Montcalm was strangely neglected and 
abandoTied by the home government ; no re-enforcements reached 



502 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

him from France ; and in the following year (1759) the British 
resumed their operations with an overwhelming force of near forty 
thousand men, in three grand divisions under Generals Amherst, 
Prideaux, and Wolfe. The latter, a commander young in years, 
but of pre-eminent gallantry, energy, and skill, ascended the St. 
Lawrence, and appeared before Quebec on the 25th of June, 1759. 
Montcalm, with admirable judgment, encamped in a position of 
great strength between the rivers Montmorency and St. Charles ; 
and on the enemy's attempting to cross and land by a narrow ford 
close to the falls of the Montmorency, they were received with so 
terrible a cannonade, that the plan was soon abandoned as hope- 
less. Meanwhile Wolfe received intelligence of the reduction of 
the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point by General Amherst ; 
and, resolving to make another effort for the possession of Que- 
bec, he landed his troops on the night of the 12th of September 
within a mile and a half of the city, and, scaling the precipitous 
heights of Abraham, hitherto deemed inaccessible, he established 
himself before morning in a position almost commanding Quebec. 
r.Iontcalm instantly crossed the St. Charles, and assailed the En- 
glish with desperate valor ; the battle was resolutely sustained on 
both sides ; but the French were considerably outnumbered, and 
in the end were driven back in great confusion on the tow^n. The 
two heroic leaders met death gloriously in the hottest of the ac- 
tion ; and five days afterward the governor of Quebec signed a 
capitulation by which the French evacuated the city and retired 
to Montreal. This misfortune decided the fate of the French 
North American territories. In the following year«General Am- 
herst concentrated his army, and surrounded the French at Mont- 
real. Here the governox", the Marquess of Vaudreuil, finding his 
situation hopeless, signed a convention on the 8th of September, 
1760, by which his garrison became prisoners of war, and the 
French possessions in Canada were surrendered to the British 
crown. 

Nor was France at all more fortunate at this period in her mar- 
itime enterprises. The Duke of Choiseul, who succeeded the Cai'- 
dinal de Bernis as minister for foreign affairs in November, 1758, 
had formed the adventurous project of attacking England on her 
own shores ; and vast preparations were made for a descent, in 
the spring of 1759, in all the harbors from Dunkirk to Toulon. 
The Toulon squadron, under M. de la Clue, in attempting to pass 
the Straits of Gibraltar in order to unite with that of Brest, was 
attacked by the English under Admiral Boscawen off Cape Lagos, 
and a furious engagement followed, in which the French were de- 
feated with the loss of five of their largest ships. The Brest fleet, 
consisting of twenty-one sail of the line, put to sea on the 14 th of 



A.D. 1769-1762. THE FAMILY COMPACT. 503 

November, under the command of the Count of Conflans, and, 
falling in soon afterward with twenty-three English vessels under 
Admiral Hawke, was almost annihilated in a desperate action oiF 
Belleisle. A few months later an armament left Dunkirk, and, 
effecting a descent on the north coast of Ireland, seized the town 
of Carrickfergus. Here the French commander, Thurot, was kill- 
ed, and the whole of his followers were made prisoners of war. 
In short, the naval genius and resources of Great Britain, under 
the vigorous direction of Pitt, were now so manifestly superior, 
that the cabinet of Versailles desisted from all attempts to main- 
tain the contest by sea. 

On the Continent the French forces were intrusted to the com- 
mand of Marshal Contades and the Duke de Broglie. They ob- 
tained several successes over Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in 
the beginning of the campaign of 1759, but were unable to bring 
him to a general action till the 1st of August, when the two 
armies encountei'ed near Minden on the Weser, and the French 
received a severe defeat, sacrificing upward of seven thousand men. 
They now retreated precipitately upon Cassel, thus abandoning 
the electorate of Hanover, and almost the whole of Munster and 
Westphalia. 

§ 7. Choiseul now formed a treaty of close alliance with the 
Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon. This treaty, so cele- 
brated under the name of the Family Compact, was signed at 
Versailles (Aug. 15, 1761). Louis XV. and Charles HI. guaran- 
teed their respective possessions in all parts of the world ; what- 
ever power might be laostile to the one was henceforth to be treat- 
ed as an enemy by the other, and peace was never to be made but 
by mutual consent. No power external to the house of Bourbon 
was to be admitted as a* party to the treaty. Other articles stip- 
ulated the amount of forces by land and sea to be furnished by 
each court on demand. 

This famous alliance, however, by no means realized the san- 
guine expectations entertained by its author. It soon became 
known to Pitt, who resigned office because his colleagues would 
not consent to an immediate rupture with Spain. Nevertheless, 
his successor, Lord Egremont, found it necessary to adopt the 
same views, and war was proclaimed by Great Britain against 
Spain on the 4th of January, 1762. The flourishing city of Ha- 
vana, the capital of Cuba, was successfully attacked by the En- 
glish during the next summer ; a considerable fleet Avas captured 
in the harbor, together with treasure amounting to several mil- 
lions. The islands belonging to France in the Caribbean Sea — 
Martinique, Grenada, Tobago, and others — fell into the hands of 
the British during tlie same year. Spain was also compelled to 
surrender hcv rieli colonies in the Philippine Islands. 



504 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

The Kill" of Prussia, meanwhile, had maintained the war with 
unabated vigor and ability, though by no means with uniform suc- 
cess. At one time his capital itself was occupied by the Aus- 
trians and Russians ; he afterward defeated the Austrians at Tor- 
gau, but was again seriously crippled by the loss of Schweidnitz 
and Colberg, and the general posture of his affairs became to the 
last degree critical and disheartening. An unexpected change in 
his favor occurred on the accession of Peter III. to the imperial 
throne of Russia, in January, 1762. The new emperor, who was 
an ardent admirer of the martial genius of Frederick, immediately 
established friendly relations between the two courts ; his exam- 
ple was followed by Sweden ; and although the emperor died 
within a few months, his successor, the Empress Catharine, re- 
fused to renew the war, and observed a strict neutrality. But 
Prussia, exhausted by her tei-rible sacrifices, was now anxious for 
the restoration of peace^ Lord Bute, who had lately succeeded 
to the direction of affairs in England, was animated by similar 
views, and peace was concluded by the Treaty of Paris on the 
10th of February, 1763. 

The extraordinary good fortune which had attended the arms 
of England justified her on this occasion in exacting costly and 
humiliating conditions from her rival. France surrendered the 
whole territory of Canada, Cape Breton, and other islands in the 
gulf and river of St. Lawrence, and all that part of Louisiana 
which lies east of the Mississippi, She also ceded the West Indian 
Islands of Grenada, Tobago, St. Vincent, and Dominica, and the 
settlement of Senegal on the coast of Africa. Minorca was re- 
stored to Great Britain ; Martinique, St. Lucia, and Belleisle to 
France. The French likcAvise recovered their factories in the 
East Indies, but on the express condition oT maintaining no troops 
and erecting no fortifications in Bengal. The right of fishery on 
the coast of Newfoundland was conceded to France, with the small 
islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon for the protection of the fisher- 
men. The fortifications of Dunkirk, it was once more stipulated, 
were to be demolished. 

Tlie peace of Paris was immediately followed by a treaty signed 
at Hubertsburg between Austria and Prussia, which left the for- 
mer power in the enjoyment of precisely the same extent of terri- 
tory as before the war. Thus, after this sanguinary struggle of 
seven years, which had cost Austria one hundred and forty thou- 
sand men and Prussia one hundred and eighty thousand, the gen- 
eral balance of power on the Continent of Europe remained ulti- 
mately unchanged. 

§ 8. The ignominious peace of Paris was closely followed by 
one of the most remarkable transactions of the administration of 



A.D. 1759. SUPPRESSION OF THE ORDER OF JESUITS. 505 

Choiseul, namely, the suppression of the Ordei* of the Jesuits in 
France. We have already noticed the extraordinaiy power ac- 
quired by this celebrated community. After having successfully 
combated the Lutheranism and Calvinism of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, it had become dominant among the clergy of France^ — had 
gained the confidence of royalty — had governed the consciences 
of three monarchs in succession — and had thus exercised a vast 
though secret influence u^Don the political movements and fortunes 
of the state. The first serious blow against the Order was that 
aimed by the Jansenists. That pernicious system of morals which 
had been so mercilessly exposed by the reasonings and sarcasms 
of a Pascal and an Arnauld never afterward recovered its hold 
upon the public mind. The persecution of the Port-Royalists, 
■which Avas presumed to be instigated by their rivals, increased 
their discredit ; and the contest between the court and the Par- 
liaments, in which the latter, as we have seen, suftered repeatedly 
from measures of the most galling and oppressive tyranny, drew 
upon them the deadly hatred of the magistracy, backed by the 
popular party throughout the kingdom. The Encyclopasdists, 
again — the school of skeptical philosophers, led by Voltaire, Dide- 
rot, and D'Alembert — had joined with vehement animosity in the 
outciy against the Jesuits, and contributed not a little to their 
final downfall. The Duke of Choiseul Avas their bitter enemy, 
and had for some time resolved on their ruin, in secret concert 
with Madame de Pompadour, whom they had mortally offended 
by an attempt to put an end to her scandalous connection Avith 
the king. 

These manifold seeds of hostility produced at no distant period 
their natural fruits. Having incurred the enmity of the Portu- 
guese minister Pombal, the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal 
in 1759, upon an vmjust accusation of having fomented sedition in 
their settlements in Paraguay, and of being concerned in a mys- 
terious attempt to assassinate the King of Portugal, Joseph L 
This gave a ncAv impulse to the intrigues against the company in 
France ; and an occasion soon presented itself of proceeding ac- 
tively against them, of which their enemies were not slow to take 
advantage. 

The immense extent and success of the missions conducted by 
the Jesuits had encouraged them to embark largely in commercial 
enterprises ; and the enormous wealth thus accumulated was one 
of the abuses in the Order against which public opinion most 
loudly exclaimed. Among other speculations, Father Lavalette, 
the superior of the missions in the Antilles, had established a 
mercantile and banking firm at Martinique, Avhich corresponded 
with all the principal houses in France and Europe. In consc- 

Y 



506 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

quenee of the extensive damage inflicted by the English on French 
commerce during the Seven Years' AVar, Lavalette became a de- 
faulter to the amount of three millions of francs ; two of his cred- 
itors, merchants of Marseilles, regarding the whole Order as re- 
sponsible for its bankrupt member, demanded compensation from 
the general, Ricci ; which being refused, they appealed to the 
courts of justice, and obtained a decision in favor of their claims. 
The Jesuits, with fatal indisci'etion, now carried their cause before 
the Parliament of Paris ; that tribunal proceeded to examine the 
constitutions of the society, and, having ascertained that by these 
rules the whole of the corporate property was absolutely vested in 
the general, gave judgment that the Order, as a body, was answer- 
able for Lavalette, and bound to discharge all his liabilities. 

The publication of this decree gave the signal for an attack 
upon the Jesuits by most of the provincial Parliaments. After 
much hesitation, Louis at length yielded to the persuasions of liis 
minister and his vindictive mistress, and abandoned the unfor- 
tunate Jesuits to the Parliament of Paris. That tribunal passed 
a decree on the 6th of August, 1762, by which the Society of Jesus 
was abolished in France, its members secularized, and the whole 
of its pi'operty confiscated. The sentence was executed with un- 
relenting vigor ; and two years later the extinction of the Jesuits 
was finally confirmed by a royal edict of the 26th of November, 
1764. After having been successively banished from Spain, Na- 
ples, and Parma, the Order was formally abolished by a bull of 
Pope Clement XIV. in 1773. 

Madame de Pompadour did not long survive her triumph over 
the Jesuits ; she died in April, 1764, at the age of forty-four, 
having maintained her ascendency over the king, and her influ- 
ence in the councils, of the state, to the last hour of her life. The 
dauphin, a prince of excellent character, but of no political im- 
portance, was carried off by consumption in the following year, at 
the age of thirty-six, leaving three sons, who became in the sequel 
Louis XVI., Louis XVIIL, and Charles X. The dauphiness, a 
pi'incess of Saxony, expired in 1767 ; and the patient, neglected 
queen, Maria Leczynski, Avas borne to the grave in June, 1768. 
Her father, the excellent Stanislas, after a prosperous and useful 
reign of twenty years in Lorraine, had preceded her to the tomb 
in February, 1766, upon which the duchies of Lorraine and Bar 
were definitively incorporated with the French monarchy. 

§ 9. Louis XV. was to all external appearance profoundly af- 
fected by the death of his amiable consort. He wept over her re- 
mains, seemed for some time absorbed in sorrow, and gave signs 
of a real resolution to amend his course of life. But these im- 
pressions wei-e but transient ; little more than a year had elapsed 



A.D. 1768. ANNEXATION OF CORSICA. 597 

before he resumed his habits of profligacy, and descended to the 
lowest depth of infamy by connecting himself with an abandoned 
woman named, Jeanne Vaubernier, who, having been married, by 
the king's command, to a nobleman of the court, was soon intro- 
duced at Versailles as the Countess du Barry. Choiseul, highly 
to his honor, remonstrated strongly and almost indignantly with 
Louis against this new degradation of the throne of France, and 
treated the upstart countess with undissembled scorn and disgust. 
He thus created for Inmself a powerful enemy ; and a sort of co- 
alition was ere long formed against the minister between Madame 
du Barry, the Duke of Aiguillon, governor of Brittany, the Chan- 
cellor Maupeou, and the Abbe Terray, comptroller "general of the 
finances. Choiseul, however, continued for the present to hold 
the reins of power ; and his administration was on the whole wise, 
enlightened, upriglit, and beneficial to France. 

One of the most important events of this period Avas the an- 
nexation of the island of Corsica to the French dominions, which 
took place in 1768. Corsica had been for a long series of years 
subject to the Genoese republic ; twice the inhabitants had shaken 
off this foreign yoke, and declared themselves independent ; and 
twice had France interfered, at the request of Genoa, to reduce 
them to submission to their former masters. On the second oc- 
currence, however, the popular cause was so vigorously maintain- 
ed by the celebrated General Pascal Paoli, that the Genoese gave 
up all hope of ever re-establishing their power. Choiseul re- 
solved to avail himself of these circumstances to obtain possessiori 
of Corsica for France. A convention was concluded, by which 
the Genoese relinquished all their rights in favor of Louis XV. ; 
a large military force was immediately dispatched to the island ; 
and although the brave Paoli made a stout resistance, and kept 
up hostilities for more than a whole year, he was compelled to 
yield in the end, and the whole island submitted to the sovereign- 
ty of France. 

§ 10. A violent and complicated struggle now commenced be- 
tween Choiseul and his enemies, which at length ended in the 
overthrow of the minister. It was, in point of fact, a vindictive 
movement of the vanquished Jesuitical party, to retaliate upon 
those who had caused their doAvnfall. The Duke of Aiguillon, 
the leader of the faction opposed to Choiseul, liad made himself 
odious by his unwise and tyrannical administration in Brittany. 
The Parliament of Pennes instituted a process against him for 
abuse of power ; but the king transferred the hearing of his cause 
from Rennes to Paris, on the ground that the accused was a peer 
of France ; and as the Parisian Parliament showed itself disposed 
to still more violent measures, Louis at last forbade them alto- 



508 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIY. 

gether to proceed with tlie trial. Upon this the Parliament had 
the audacity to declare the duke suspended from his privileges 
and functions as a peer; the king instantly held a bed of justice, 
and annulled the decree ; and the rebellious magistrates forthwith 
put a stop to the administration of justice. The Duke of Aiguil- 
lon, warmly supported by his friends Maupeou and Terray, now 
urged Louis to take severe and decisive steps against the body 
which thus insolently braved his sovereign authority. They rep- 
resented that the Parliament must be signally chastised and hum- 
bled if the king would avert the impending danger of a civil war ; 
and, as a necessary preliminary measure, they insisted on the dis- 
missal of Choiseul, by whom the magistrates were known to have 
been mainly encouraged in their resistance to the court. Second- 
ed by the importunate entreaties of the vile Du Barry, these in- 
trigues against the minister were at length successful. A royal 
order of the 24th December, 1770, deprived Choiseul of his of- 
fices, and banished him to his estate at Chanteloup. He carried 
with him into retirement the sincere admiration, respect, and re- 
gret of the greater part of the nation. 

The confederates now seized the helm of government ; Aiguil- 
lon was nominated secretary of state for foreign affairs. The Par- 
liament soon felt the vengeance of the new ministry. On the night 
of the 19th of January, 1771, the magistrates were awakened in 
their several dwellings by gendarmes, who presented to them a 
royal command to resume their judicial duties, to which they were 
required to answer on the spot either yes or no. Out of near two 
hundred, barely forty signed in the aflRrm.ative, and these retracted 
their assent the next day. They were at once removed from their 
posts, and banished by lettres de cachet into different parts of 
France. The court next proceeded to the hazardous step of sup- 
pressing altogether the ancient Parliaments of the realm, both in 
the capital and in the provinces. Six new tribunals, under the 
name of conseils supei'ieurs, were instituted in the towns of Arras, 
Blois, Chalons-sur-Marne, Clermont, Lyon, and Poitiers, the cen- 
tral court of justice being still maintained at Paris. In order to 
recommend the new Parliament to public favor, Maupeou an- 
nounced that justice would be administered gratuitously, and that 
the delays, perversions, and venality of the old system would be 
swept away. 

This great organic change was not accomplished without pro- 
tests and expostulations, in which even princes of the blood took 
part ; but it excited no determined or sustained opposition. Nev- 
ertheless, the tendency of such arbitrary proceedings was not un- 
perceived by those who looked deeper than the surface. The pres- 
ident of the court of aides at Paris, the virtuous Lamoignon dc 



A.D. 1772. THE FACTE DE FAMINE. 599 

Malesherbes, complained to the king with honest and eloquent 
freedom of the systematic infraction of the ancient constitution 
of France, and declared that no resource was left for the nation 
but the calling together of the States-General, which had been 
totally disused for upward of a century and a half His words 
were echoed by several distinguished members of the Parliaments 
of Besangon, Toulouse, and Rouen. But the king, absorbed in 
selfish apathy, took no heed to these presages of the coming storm, 
and suffered nothing to disturb his self-complacency. He con- 
stantly repeated his belief that things would last in their present 
state at least as long as himself, and added that his successor must 
shift as he could. " Apres nous le deluge," was the favorite max- 
im of this infatuated court in the days which immediately pre- 
ceded its ruin. 

§ 11. The closing years of Louis XV. present but few events 
deserving of special notice. The finances of the state being still 
disordered to an alarming extent, the minister Terray resorted to 
various desperate remedies, such as that of breaking faith with 
the national creditor by sudden reductions of the interest on gov- 
ernment securities, and the imposition of excessive taxes. His 
utmost efforts only succeeded in reducing the annual deficit to 
twenty-five millions of francs ; the total amount of the public in- 
come being three hundred and seventy-five millions, while the an- 
nual expenditure reached four hundred millions. At the same 
time, the distress of the lower classes was grievously augmented 
by a scandalous association called the " Facte de Famine," which 
produced artificially an immense rise in the price of corn. The 
king liimself was a large shareholder in this company, which 
bought up the grain in France, exported it, and then reintro- 
duced it at an enormous profit. The people were thus driven to 
the last extremity of misery ; and yet no one ventured to raise 
his voice against this abominable traffic, the slightest complaint 
being followed by consignment to the dungeons of the Bastile. 
Who can wonder that, under such a government, the most fierce 
and deadly hatred was engendered toward the throne and the 
privileged orders among the suffering multitudes who lay prostrate 
under their iron yoke ? 

The ti'iumvirate Avho had procured the disgrace of Choiseul — 
Aiguillon, Maupeou, and Terray — remained in ofl^ce till the end 
of the reign, but with small honor or success, either in their do- 
mestic or external administration. Aiguillon tamely permitted 
in 1772 the disgraceful partition of the kingdom of Poland be- 
tween Russia, Austria, and Prussia ; upon which occasion Louis 
observed that, had Choiseul been still at the head of affairs, such 
a transaction could never have taken place. 



510 LOUIS XV. Chap. XXIV. 

Ill the midst of the accumulated abuses and embaiTassments 
of a disorganized and decaying monarchy, Louis XV". at length 
died at the age of sixty-four, on the 10th of May, 1774, after a 
reign of fifty-eight years. An attack of malignant small-pox had 
reduced his already distempered frame to a mass of corruption 
even before it proved fatal. His remains were hastily consigned 
to the coffin, and transported without pomp to St. Denis, amid 
the scarcely suppressed contempt and maledictions of the people. 

§ 12. Encouraged by the scandalous misgovernment, corrup- 
tions, and social disorders of this reign, the "new opinions," as 
they were called, had made an extraordinary and alarming prog- 
ress. All institutions, religious, political, and domestic, were alike 
criticised in a spirit of daring reckless independence. The great 
principle of authority was unscrupulously attacked in all its bear- 
ings ; and as the reformers employed with masterly ability every 
available weapon — wit, sarcasm, invective, argument, appeals to 
the passions, to self-love, to the natural instinct of self-direction, 
to common sense, to the original laws and liberties of our being 
— the agitation they created was felt ere long in the remotest cor- 
ners of the empire. The president Montesquieu, Voltaire, Dide- 
rot, D' Alembert, Helvetius, Condillac, the Abbe Kaynal, were the 
chief apostles of the new philosophy, and went far to revolution- 
ize the views of the nation as to the established system xinder 
which they found themselves. Their principal work was the cel- 
ebrated " Encyclope'die," a huge store-house of general informa- 
tion in seventeen volumes folio, deeply imbued throughout with 
materialist, democratic, and irreligious doctrines. But the writer 
who acquired the most extensive and pernicious influence over, 
the mind of France at this period was undoubtedly Jean Jacques 
Kousseau. In his works on the " Inequality of the Condition of 
Mankind," in his " Emile," " Contrat Social," and " Nouvelle 
Heloise," he developed his notions on the reconstruction of so- 
ciety with a subtlety, a charm of style, a specious air of philan- 
thropy, a false morbid sensibility, peculiarly attractive to the 
Fi-ench character, but the effects of which Avent directly to un- 
dermine and subvert the very foundations of religion, morality, 
and legitimate government. 

Under such guides the French people had become penetrated 
with an intense anxiety for change. Freedom of thought and be- 
lief — complete security for person and property — radical adminis- 
trative reform — equality of taxation — the abolition of state mo- 
nopolies — free competition in trade and manufactures, were clam- 
orously demanded on all sides. The lower classes were in a state 
of angry and malignant alienation from their rulers, and thorough- 
ly determined to obtain, sooner or later, a complete redress of their 



Chap. XXIV. INFATUATION OF THE NOBILITY. . 511 

manifold wrongs. The court and the privileged orders, on the 
other hand, seemed given over to the blindness of infatuation. 
Devoted to their pleasures, they refused to recognize the sio-ns of 
the times, and utterly disregarded the miseries and murmurs of 
their dependents. When at length they awoke to a sense of the 
danger, it was too late to retrieve their error ; they had been 
slumbering on the ashes of a volcano, which suddenly burst and 
overwhelmed them in destruction. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



AUTIIOEITIES FOR THE REIGN OF 
LOUIS XV. 

For this period tlie chief worki? to be con- 
sulted are the Memoirs of the Due de. ^toail- 
l''-i; the Journal de VAvocat Barhier, 1718- 
1703 ; Voltaire, Steele de Louis XV. ; de Toc- 



queville, Hisioire PMlosopMque du Regne 
de Louis XV. ; and Lacretelle, Histoire de 
Francapendant le Dix-huitienie Sieole. Also 
the very entertaining Memoirs of the Mar- 
quise de Crequy. 




Medal struck to couuuemoi-ate the alliance of France and the United States against England. 
CHAPTER XXV. 

REIGN OF LOUIS XVI. I. FROM HIS ACCESSION TO THE MEETING OF 
THE STATES-GENERAL. A.D. 1774-1789. 

§ 1. Accession of Louis XVI. ; his Cliaracter; Maria Antoinette ; the Count 
de Maurepas ; Turgot ; Necker. § 2. France supports the Americans in 
their Contest with England ; Naval Action in the Channel ; Hostilities in 
the West Indies. § 3. The "Armed Neutrality;" Naval Actions of De 
Grasse ; his Defeat by Admiral Rodney ; Siege of Gibraltar. § 4. The 
Bailli de Suffren in the East Indies; Peace of Versailles. § 5. "Compte 
Rendu" of Necker ; his Resignation ; Ministry of Calonne ; Assembly of 
Notables. § 6. Administration of Cardinal de Brienne ; the Parliament 
exiled to Troyes ; Arrest and Imprisonment of D'Epremesnil ; the " Cour 
ple'niere." § 7. Necker recalled; the States-General summoned; Ques- 
tions as to their Composition. § 8. Sieyes' Pamphlet on the Tiers Etat ; 
Meeting of the States-General at Versailles. 

§ 1. Louis XVI., the thivd son of the dauphin, only legitimate 
son of Louis XV., ascended the throne in the twentieth year of his 
age, having been born at Versailles on the 2od of August, 1754. 
His education had been directed by the Duke of Vauguyon, a 
frivolous and narrow-minded courtier, who totally neglected to 
instruct his pupil in the art of government, the affairs of state, 
and the duties of his future station. Louis was full of excellent 
intentions, pure in morals, not deficient in natural good sense, and 
sincerely anxious for the welfare of his subjects; but he was dif- 
fident and timid to a fault, lamentably Avanting in strength and 
energy of character, and, by an unfortunate fatality, always dis- 
posed both to be firm and to give way at the wrong moment. 
He was also too decidedly under the influence of his young and 
lovely queen, Marie Antoinette, a daughter of the Empress Maria 
Theresa, who combined with the imperious temper of her house a 
levity and frivolity of manners which soon rendered her unpopu- 
lar, and whose counsels, in the difficult circumstances in which 
the court was placed, were often deplorably ill-judged. 



A.D.1774. LOUIS XVI.'S FIEST MINISTEY. 513 

The first act of the new monarch was to displace the Duke of 
Aiguillon, and to appoint as principal minister the Count de Mau- 
repas, a nobleman of slender political talent, and withal upward 
of seventy years of age, who had formerly been disgraced and ban- 
ished from court for having offended Madame de Pompadour. 
His chief colleagues were the Count de Vergenries, minister of 
foreign affairs ; the Count de St. Germain, minister at war ; Tur- 
got, who was at first minister of marine, but was soon transferred 
to the comptrollership of the finances ; and Lamoignon de Males- 
herbes, who was placed at the head of the king's household. 
Turgot was a disciple of Rousseau, and the head of the party call- 
ed " Economistes ;" a man of superior character and real genius, 
of whom his friend Malesherbes said that he possessed "the heart 
of L'Hopital and the head of Bacon." He was a successful au- 
thor, and had gained a high reputation for administrative talent 
as intendant at Limoges. Turgot addressed himself immediately 
to several measures of reform of the highest importance ; his lead- 
ing pi'inciple was that of making all oi'ders and classes contribute 
in just proportion to the burdens of the state. He therefore prp- 
posed the abolition of the corvee, or compulsory repair of the high 
roads by the peasantry of the district ; the imposition of a mod- 
erate land-tax on the nobles and clergy; the establishment of free 
trade in corn within the kingdom ; and the suppression of various 
antiquated corporations and monopolies which fettered the na- 
tional industry. " No bankruptcies, no augmentation of taxes, 
no loans" — such was the financial programme of Turgot; and 
during his brief tenure of office he succeeded in retrenching no 
less than one hundred millions of francs from the liabilities of the 
state. But the plans of this enlightened minister were unhappily 
thwarted by the blind selfishness of the noblesse, the court party, 
and all the numerous classes interested in keeping up the prevail- 
ing abuses. On the appearance of the edict for the free circula- 
tion of grain much opposition was excited, and disturbances took 
place in the agricultural districts ; bands of rioters even invaded 
Versailles and the environs of Paris, and committed excesses which 
it was found necessary to repress by force. The Parliament, 
which Louis, by the mistaken advice of Maurepas, had re-estab- 
lished, refused to accept the projects for abolishing the corvee and 
other unequal burdens; and, although the registration of these 
edicts was compelled in a bed of justice, the current of hostility 
now set in so strongly against Turgot that the feeble-minded Louis 
became afraid to support him, and the fair prospect of a safe con- 
servative reformation was accordingly sacrificed to selfish and ig- 
norant clamor. Turgot was dismissed from office in May, 177C ; 
his friend Malesherbes had previously sent in his resignation. 

Y 2 



514 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXV. 

The schemes of reform were now abandoned, and the corve'e re- 
imposed. Maurepas continued at the bead of the government, 
and, after a brief interval, M. Necker, a wealthy banker of Gene- 
va, who enjoyed higli credit in the commercial world, was named 
to the management of the finances in June, 1777. Necker was a 
man of perspicuous views, liberal principles, and distinguished abil- 
ity ; but he was not so bold and determined as his predecessor 
Turgot in attacking the root of the evils which afilicted France. 
The expedient upon which he chiefly relied for the relief of the 
finances was that of negotiating successive loans, which, owing to 
the confidence inspired by his great talents and brilliant reputa- 
tion, he was enabled to raise with wonderful facility. Necker also 
swept away no less than six hundred superfluous and sinecure of- 
fices connected with the court and the administration — a measure 
which produced an immense saving to the public service ; and he 
effected a farther reduction of expenditure by changes in the mode 
of collecting the revenue. In order to be in a more favorable po- 
sition for suppressing the salaries of others, Necker steadily de- 
clined to accept the emoluments of his own office. 

§ 2. But fresh and serious embarrassments, upon which Necker 
had not calculated, arose not long after his accession to power, 
from the unwise intervention of France in the quarrel between 
Great Britain and her North American colonies. Shortly after 
the American declaration of independence, signed on the 4th of 
July, 1776, three deputies from the new Kepublic — Benjamin 
Franklin, Arthur Lee, and Silas Deane — arrived in Paris to so- 
licit aid from France in the struggle against the mother country. 
Their presence created an extraordinary sensation ; and the en- 
thusiasm thus produced was undoubtedly one of the causes which 
contributed powerfully to the subsequent outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion. Louis XVI. was strongly averse to any proceeding at this 
moment which might involve him in a war with England. His 
ministers, especially Necker, shared his sentiments ; but the ex- 
pression of popular sympathy with the Americans was so ardent 
and so general that it was deemed imprudent to resist it ; and on 
the 8th of February, 1778, a treaty of commerce and alliance was 
signed with the United States, by Avhich, although France ex- 
pressed a wish to remain neutral in the contest, it was agreed 
that, in the event of a rupture, an auxiliary French force should 
be sent to America, and that peace should not be made until 
Great Britain had fully recognized the independence of the colo- 
nies. Immediately on the receipt of this intelligence the British 
government directed its embassador to withdraw from Paris ; and, 
without any regular declaration of war, orders were given for tlie 
seizure of vessels found in the ports of the two countries. It was 



A.D. 1778-1780. WAR WITH ENGLAND. 515 

now that the young and high-spirited Marquess de la Fayette, 
afterward so celebrated in the Revolution, equipped a ship at his 
own expense, and proceeded to join the army of the American 
patriots under General Washington. 

Immense exertions had been made since the conclusion of the 
last war to reorganize the French marine ; a very powerful navy 
had been collected in the various harbors; and the hostilities which 
followed were almost entii-ely maritime. A fleet of thirty-two 
sail-of-the-line quitted Brest under the command of the Count 
D'Orvilliers, and on the 27th of July (1778) encountered the En- 
glish Admiral Keppel, with thirty ships, within sight of the Isle 
of Ushant. A severe running-light of some hours ensued, but 
without decisive result, not a single ship being lost on either side ; 
the French, however, were the most seriously damaged, and es- 
caped with difficulty into Brest to refit. Still it was regarded as 
almost equivalent to a victory to have fought a general naval ac- 
tion with the English without sustaining a total defeat. Another 
French squadron, under the Count D'Estaing, appeared olF the 
American coast, and afterward steered for the West Indies. In 
the following year, having received a considerable re-enforcement, 
the Count D'Estaing fought an action with Admiral Byron of}' 
St. Lucia, and, thougli not decidedly victorious, obtained a partial 
success. 

The cabinet of Versailles now summoned Spain, in accordance 
with the Family Compact, to take part in the contest with Great 
Britain. War was accordingly declared, and, the fleet of D'Or- 
villiers having united with thirty Spanish sail-of-the-line near Ca- 
diz, this second Armada entered the British Channel. The En- 
glisli force under Admiral Hardy, then cruising in the Bay of 
Biscay, numbered only thirty-eight sail, while that of the enemy 
amounted to sixty-seven. There was a moment of considerable 
alarm in England; but, to the general surprise, the allied fleet, 
on coming up with Hardy off Plymouth, made no attempt to 
bring on an engagement ; the French and Spanish crews were suf- 
fering greatly from epidemic sickness ; tempestuous weather en- 
sued ; and D'Orvilliers, not venturing to risk a battle, effected his 
retreat to Brest in a shattered state. A Franco-Spanish arma- 
ment, meanwhile, made an abortive attempt to reduce Gibraltar. 
The hope of recovering that commanding fortress seems indeed 
to have been the main motive of the court of Madrid in engaging 
in the war. Sir George Rodney, however, defeated a Spanish 
squadron off Cape St. Vincent on the 8th of January, 1780, after 
which he relieved and revictualed Gibraltar, and, proceeding to 
the West Indies, fought two actions with the French Admiral 
Guichen, in which victory did not declare positively for either 
side. 



516 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXV. 

§ 3. A coalition was formed in 1780 by the northern powers, 
under the name of the "Armed Neutrality," for protecting mer- 
chandise carried in neutral vessels against the right of search which 
had been hitherto exercised by the cruisers of Great Britain. 
Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, and Holland were the original 
members of this league ; the Two Sicilies and Portugal afterward 
acceded to it. Upon this, a rupture ensued between England and 
the States of Holland; the British fleets received orders to attack 
the Dutch colonies both in the East and West Indies ; and, the 
Dutch government appealing to France for protection and succor, 
the war was prosecuted with renewed vigor. At the urgent re- 
quest of General Washington, a powerful armament was now dis- 
patched to his assistance, under the Count de Kochambeau, who 
placed himself under the orders of the American leader. A 
splendid fleet of twenty-eight sail, commanded by the Count de 
Grasse, crossed the Atlantic early in 1781 to support this move- 
ment ; and, having fought an indecisive action with the English 
Admiral Graves, anchored in the Chesapeake on the 10th of Sep- 
tember. The combined French and Americans now blockaded 
the English under Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, cut off his com- 
munications with New York, and reduced him to the mortifying 
necessity of capitulating with his whole force on the 19th of Oc- 
tober, 1781. On this occasion the whole of the shipping in the 
harbor of Yorktown was surrendered to the King of France. 
This transaction had a decisive effect upon the course of the war 
in America, and may be said to have sealed the triumph of the 
insurgent colonies. Among the many distinguished French vol- 
unteers Avho shared the dangers and glory of this memorable strug- 
gle, we find, besides La Fayette and Rochambeau, the names of 
the Duke of Lauzun, the Vicomte de Noailles, Alexandre Berthier, 
Mathieu Dumas, and Charles de Lameth. 

The French were on several occasions successful in their naval 
operations in the West Indies. De Grasse captured Tobago, and 
recovered the Dutch island of St. Eustatius, which had been taken 
by the British ; after which, his fleet, in conjunction with a land- 
force under the Marquess of Bouille', attacked and reduced the isl- 
ands of St. Christopher's, Nevis, and Montserrat. The French 
commanders next projected an attempt upon Jamaica ; for this 
purpose De Grasse sailed from Martinique with thirty-two ships, 
intending to form a junction with the Spaniards at Hispaniola; 
but on the 12th of April, 1782, he was overtaken by Admiral 
Rodney with a somewhat superior English fleet, and a general and 
desperate action followed, in which the British admiral practiced 
for the first time the daring manceuvre of breaking through the 
enemy's line, and in the end gained a decisive victoiy, capturing 



A.D. 1782. SIEGE OF GIBEALTAR. 517 

seven shlps-of-the-line and two frigates. The "Ville de Paris," 
the French Admiral's flag-ship, a magnificent vessel of one hund- 
red and twenty guns, was compelled to strike her colors after a 
most gallant defense, and De Grasse himself became a prisoner. 
The rest of his ships bore away for St. Domingo in a very disabled 
condition. This great disaster put an end to the enterprise against 
Jamaica, and dealt a fatal blow to the maritime power of France 
and Spain in the West Indies. 

An expedition against Minorca, under the Duke de Crillon, 
met with better success. The combined French and Spanish fleets 
disembarked fourteen thousand men upon the island ; and the 
brave English garrison under Genei-al Murray, after sustaining a 
siege of five months, capitulated in February, 1782. After this 
exploit the allied commanders made extraordinary exertions to 
accomplish the reduction of Gibraltar, the siege of which had al- 
ready lasted, in a desultory manner, for upward of three years. 
The gallant defense of this fortress by General Elliot was one of 
the most celebrated and glorious achievements of the war. A 
fleet of forty-eight sail blockaded the bay, while an army of forty 
thousand men was massed upon the shore ; two princes of the 
blood-royal of Finance, the Count D'Artois and the Duke of Bour- 
bon, were present in the besieging lines. The expedient of im- 
mense floating batteries, invented by a French engineer, the Cheva- 
lier D' Argon, was tried with sanguine hopes of success ; but it 
was found, after a time, that they were not proof against the tre- 
mendous cannonade of red-hot balls from the English batteries ; 
their powder-magazines exploded, and the whole flotilla was de- 
stroyed. Lord Howe, dispatched with a large fleet to the relief 
of the besieged, contrived, with admirable courage and dexterity, 
to reach the harbor of Gibraltar during the temporary absence of 
the blockading force ; ample supplies were furnished to the garri- 
son, and the assailants fruitlessly continued the siege till the close 
of the war, without the slightest prospect of a successful result. 
Such was the final failure of the vigorous and repeated efforts of 
the Spanish crown to recover Gibraltar by force of arms ; nego- 
tiation was afterward resorted to, with much eagerness and per- 
tinacity, for the same purpose, but was ultimately unsucces^ul, 
and Gibraltar was left in the permanent possession of Great 
Britain. 

§ 4. One of the most distinguished of the French commanders 
in this war was the Bailli de Suffren, who was sent to the East 
Indies with a powerful fleet in 1781, to co-operate with the famous 
Hyder Ali, Sultan of Mysore, against the British dominion in the 
Carnatic. On his way out he fought a sharp action with Com- 
modore Johnstone oft" the Cape de Verd Islands; and, having 



5 1 8 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXV. 

reached the coast of Coromandel, he engaged in several spirited 
encounters with the squadron of Sir E.Hughes, in which the ad- 
vantage was, on the whole, on the side of the French. Sulfren 
recovered the Dutch post of Trincomalee, which the English ad- 
miral had captured a short time before. Hyder Ali died toward 
the close of 1782, but his son Tippoo Saib prosecuted the Avar 
Avith the English with equal resolution, and Avas supported Avith 
great skill and energy by Suffren. After another hard-fought ac- 
tion with Admiral Hughes off Cuddalore, Suffren relieved the gar- 
rison of that place, and hostilities Avere soon afterAvard terminated 
by the arrival from Europe of the tidings of a general peace. 

The ministry of Lord North, having resigned in March, 1782, 
Avas succeeded by that of Lord Rockingham, Avhich immediately 
entered into communication Avith the Count de Vergennes, French 
minister of foreign affairs, Avith a vicAV to put an end to the Avar. 
Louis XVI. and his cabinet Avere noAV anxious for peace, for the 
Avar had already cost the country one thousand four hundred mil- 
lions of francs, and the treasury Avas exhausted. Considerable 
difficulties, hoAvever, intervened ; and it AA^as not till tlje States of 
America had signed a separate treaty with Great Britain, with- 
out the knowledge of their allies, that the three European pow- 
ers at length effected an accommodation. The preliminaries Avere 
signed at Versailles on the 20th of Januarj^, 1783, and the defini- 
tive treaty on the 3d of September folloAving. France obtained 
on this occasion .honorable and adA^antageous terms, Avhich efiaced 
in great measure the humiliation of 1763. All the stipiilations 
of former treaties Avith respect to the fortifications and harbor of 
Dunkirk Avere now canceled. France recoA'ered all her posses- 
sions in the East Indies, Avith a considerable addition of territory 
round Fondicherry and Carical. Tobago was ceded to her in the 
West Indies, Senegal and Goree in Africa. The West India isl- 
ands Avhich she had captured Avere restored to England. Arrange- 
ments Avere likcAvise made for a commercial treaty, upon the prin- 
ciple of moderate ad valorem duties, betAveen the two countries. 

§ 5. Great changes had taken place in the French administra- 
tion since tlie commencement of the Avar. Necker persuaded the 
kinc^ to sanction, early in 1781, the publication of his famous 
" Compte rendu," Avhich, for the first time, professed to place be- 
fore the eyes of the nation a complete account of the receipts and 
expenditure of the state. According to this official report, Avhich 
Avas marked by a somcAvhat ostentatious personal vanity, the de- 
ficit in the finances had already disappeared, and the public rcA-- 
enue exceeded the expenditure by ten millions of francs. The 
grounds of this result, hoAvever, Avere not very clearly demon- 
strated, and Avere probably to some extent fallacious ; indeed, the 



A.D. 1781-1783. NECKER— CALONNE. 5I9 

Avisdom of the whole proceeding seems extremely questionable. 
The implied appeal to the sense and judgment of the nation ren- 
dered it popular among the middle classes, and the great capital- 
ists readily furnished two new loans upon the strength of its rep- 
resentations ; but, on the other hand, it awakened the jealousy of 
the Count de Maurepas — it oiFended the privileged orders, as be- 
ing an exposure of th^f glaring abuse of their exemption from tax- 
ation — and after a time the king himself took umbrage at it, hav- 
ing been persuaded by the queen and the courtiers that such a 
publication tended to degrade the supreme authority of the crown 
in the eyes of the subject. Another scheme of Necker's — a plan 
of administrative reform by the creation of provincial represent- 
ative assemblies — roused against him the bitter hostility of the 
Parliament of Paris, which body, since its restoration, had evinced 
an nni-easonable, obstructive, and factious spirit. Necker found 
himself surrounded by intrigues, embarrassments, and discontent ; 
he was even denied by Maurepas a seat in the council of state on 
the ground of his being a Protestant ; and the result Avas that this 
patriotic statesman, in disgust, tendered his resignation, which 
Avas accepted by the king on the 25th' of May, 1781. The imbe- 
cile Maurepas died a few months afterward ; and the Count de 
Vergennes, without being named prime minister, succeeded to the 
chief place in the confidence of the king. Joly de Fleury now 
undertook- the direction of the finances, in which he proved him- 
self signally incapable ; D'Ormesson, his successor, retained the 
office for only seven months ; and at length M. de Calonne, for- 
merly intendant at Lille, Avas preferred to the control of the 
finances, chiefly by the favor and recommendation of Marie An- 
toinette, in October, 1783. Calonne possessed talents of a high 
order, and was celebrated for his Avit, his elegant manners, and 
his luxurious, extravagant habits of life ; he A\'as overwhelmed 
Avith debt, and his morals were notoriously profligate. Such a 
man Avas ill calculated to direct the helm of state in these threat- 
ening times ; nevertheless, Calonne obtained considerable influence 
over the king by his presumptuous self-confidence and inexhaust- 
ible fertility of resource, Avhich made light of all difficulties. Plis 
administration Avas characterized by reckless prodigality ; the 
greedy courtiers Avere gratified Avithout hesitation in all their 
demands ; all thought of economy Avas derided and cast to the 
Avinds ; every possible expedient for raising money Avas exhausted 
in succession, Avitli a total disregai'd of the future. In the course 
of four years Calonne borroAved no less than eight hundred mil- 
lions of francs ; and liis later loans Avere not registered by the 
Parliament Avithout angry remonstrances on the one side and 
menaces of despotic constraint on the other. MeauAvhile the dis- 



520 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXV. 

tress of the people became more and more insupportable, and the 
conviction rapidly gained ground that no real improvement in 
their condition could be looked for except through great and rad- 
ical changes in the entire system of government. 

The royal family and the court sank sensibly in the popular 
estimation during the wretched ministry of Calonne. The enor- 
mous debts of the Count D'Artois — the ckdldish follies and ruin- 
ous extravagance of the queen — the outrageous amount of the 
pensions and other gratifications lavished upon idle, worthless fa- 
vorites — all furnished matter of profound scorn and resentment 
throughout the country. The celebrated and mysterious affair of 
the " collier" — a diamond necklace said to have been purchased 
by the Cardinal de Rohan for Marie Antoinette — belongs to this 
period, and tended, however unjustly, to render that unfortunate 
princess an object of wide-spread suspicion and obloquy. Affairs 
at last arrived at such a pitch that it was found impossible to pay 
the interest of the various loans contracted by the state, and the 
minister could no longer disguise the alarming truth either from 
himself or from the king. Roused to earnestness by the crisis, 
Calonne now prepared and submitted to Louis a plan of reform, 
comprising various measures already proposed by his predecessors 
— such as the equal distribution of taxes, the suppression of unjust 
privileges, the diminution of the failles, the abolition of the corvee 
and the gabelle. In order to procure the semblance of national 
sanction for his scheme, Calonne determined to convoke the As- 
sembly of Notables, of which several precedents had occurred un- 
der former reigns. Louis, after some hesitation, consented to the 
step, and a list was drawn up of one hundred and forty-four indi- 
viduals, belonging almost exclusively to the privileged classes, 
whom the sovereign was to appoint on this important occasion to 
represent the nation. The meeting of the Notables took place at 
Versailles on the 22d of Februaiy, 1787. Calonne addressed 
them in a brilliant but specious and disingenuous speech, in which, 
after acknowledging that the actual deficit in the finances amount- 
ed to one hundred and twelve millions of francs, he ascribed the 
blame to the mistakes of former statesmen, and especially incul- 
pated Necker, He then proceeded to unfold his propositions of 
reform, which met with the reception that might have been ex- 
pected from the composition of the assembly ; for it was little less 
than absurd to suppose that the privileged orders would willingly 
vote the abrogation of their own privileges. Calonne's demands 
were indignantly rejected ; his enemies, headed by De Brienne, 
archbishop of Toulouse, accused him of systematic fraud and mal- 
versation, and excited a general clamor against him ; his friends 
and supporters, including even the queen and the Count D'Artois, 



A.D. 1787. MINISTRY OF CARDINAL DE BRIENNE. 52I 

disavowed and abandoned him ; and Louis found it necessary in 
the end to demand his resignation, and even to banisli him into 
Lorraine. 

§ C. The fallen minister was succeeded in power by his rival, 
the turbulent, intriguing Archbishop de Brienne, who owed his ap- 
pointment entirely to the influence of Marie Antoinette. This 
prelate, who was soon created Archbishop of Sens and a cardinal, 
presented to the Notables several of the measures of his predeces- 
sor, which, after much stormy discussion, were approved ; and the 
king then dissolved the sessions of this body on the 25th of May, 
1787. But De Brienne now found himself confronted by a much 
more intractable and formidable assembly, namely, the Parliament 
of Paris. Here it soon appeared that a powerful opposition had 
been organized against the crown, under the leadership of four el- 
oquent and determined magistrates, Duport, Robert de St. Vin- 
cent, Freteau de St. Just, and D'Epre'mesnil. The spirit by which 
the Parliament was animated at this juncture seems at first sight 
wholly unaccountable ; for, instead of stoutly defending popular 
rights and liberties, as of old, it now contested measures of salu- 
tary reform directed against the privileged classes. But the sim- 
ple truth is that these reforms were resisted solely because they 
were proposed by the court and the government. So long as they 
were combating the royal authority, the opposition leaders felt 
sure of popular sympathy and support, whatever might be the na- 
ture and real merits of the struggle. A few of the ministerial 
propositions, including that relating to the new provincial assem- 
blies, were adopted ; but upon the presentation of two edicts for 
levying a tax upon landed property without distinction of orders, 
and for a duty upon stamps, a violent outburst of indignation en- 
sued, and the registration was peremptorily refused. The Par- 
liament even went so far as to declare its own incompetence to 
enforce the establishment of any new impost, maintaining that, 
according to the ancient constitution of France, that power be- 
longed to the States-General only. The mention of the States- 
General operated like magic ; the cry was caught up with avidity 
by multitudes throughout the kingdom, and it was speedily recog- 
nized as the rallying word for all who desired to apply a search- 
ing and effectual remedy to the inveterate maladies of the state. 
De Brienne, however, resolved on attempting to overawe the Par- 
liament by an extreme exercise of sovereign authority ; he caused 
Louis to hold a bed of justice, in which the edicts were registered 
by force ; and as the Parliament persisted in remonstrating, and 
declared the registration null and void, it was exiled by royal proc- 
lamation to Troyes. This step was followed by serious popular 
riots both in Paris and the provinces. 



522 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXV. 

The mistakes and incompetence of De Brienne greatly hasten- 
ed the march of events toward the catastrophe which was ah'eady 
inevitable. He was soon forced to enter into a sort of compro- 
mise with the rebellious Parliament, which was recalled to Paris 
upon the understanding that the projected imposts on stamps and 
land should be withdrawn, and that the States-General should be 
convoked within the period of five years. The Parliament agreed 
in return to grant certain subsidies for the present exigencies of 
the public service, and to consent to renewed loans for the future. 
But mutual confidence was now at an end between the parties, . 
and neither seems to have acted in sincerity. The minister re- 
quired the sanction of the Parliament to a loan of four hundred 
and twenty millions of livres, to be raised in five years; and in 
order to secure compliance, Louis held what Avas called a "royal 
sitting," an expedient which differed very slightly from the des- 
potism of a bed of justice. This was a fxtal indisci-etion ; the Par- 
liament was instantly in arms, and, amid violent agitation, refused 
to consent to the loan. The king still insisted on implicit obe- 
dience, arrested and imprisoned two of the magistrates, and ban- 
ished the Duke of Orleans, who had made himself oifensively 
prominent in the discussion, to his chateau at Villers Cotterets. 

The court and the Parliament were now once more in open col- 
lision. A long and high-sounding statement of grievances, pre- 
sented to the king in January, 1788, was promptly met by the ar- 
rest of two of the most obnoxious leaders of the opposition, D'Ep- 
reraesnil and Goislard, who were placed in close confinement, the 
first in the isle Ste. Marguerite, the latter at Pierre Encise. This 
act of rigor was followed up by a still bolder coup d'e'tat, which 
entirely changed the constitution of the Parliament, and transfer- 
red the duty of registering the royal edicts to a "cour pleniere," 
or council composed of nobles, prelates, and other personages of 
distinction, nominated by the king himself This new institution, 
however, by which the court probably hoped to evade the neces- 
sity of convoking the States-General, -was received with universal 
derision, and proved a lamentable failure. Even the heads of the 
clergy, and several noblemen of the highest rank and of unques- 
tioned loyalty, absolutely refused to sit in the cour ple'niere ; se- 
ditious disturbances broke out in the provinces — in Brittany, Dau- 
phine. Beam ; the Parliament of Renncs, in particular, denounced 
as criminal and infamous any one who should take part in carry- 
ing out the late decree. The Cardinal de Brienne had now com- 
pletely exhausted all his resources, and was at a loss for funds to 
defray the most ordinary expenses of the government. In this ex- 
tremity he counseled Louis to make tlie grand concession Avhich 
was now clamorously demanded by the popular voice from one 



A.D. 1788. NECKER RECALLED. 523 

end of the kingdom to the other; an.d accordingly, an official an- 
nouncement was soon published that the States-General were 
summoned to meet on the 1st of May, 1789. This was the last 
act of the cardinal's administration ;• he resigned office on the 25th 
of August, 1788, and forthwith quitted France for Italy, leaving 
the king and the government in a pitiable state of confusion, ap- 
prehension, and distress. 

§ 7. Louis took perhaps the wisest course that was open to him 
at this perilous crisis : he recalled Necker, and confided to him the 
chief direction of affiiirs. His choice was fully justified ; the re- 
turn of this popular statesman was hailed by a general outburst 
of applause ; the public funds rose instantaneously ; and the gov- 
ernment received voluntary offers of loans to an immense amount. 
Necker, although estimating but too truly the difficulties and 
dangers of his position, hastened to undo, so far as was possible, 
the grievous mistakes of the two preceding cabinets ; he revoked 
the edicts establishing the cour pleniere, reinstated the Parlia- 
ment, liberated numbers of political prisoners, and exerted him- 
self laudably to relieve the almost starving population in the rural 
districts. But the main subject of his solicitude was the ap- 
proaching meeting of the States-General, which was indeed the 
topic which absorbed the anxious attention of the whole nation. 
That ancient constitutional assembly had been so long disused, 
that the greatest ignorance and confusion prevailed respecting it ; 
Qven Necker himself deemed it advisable, as a preliminary meas- 
ure, to convoke the Notables a second time, and obtain their judg- 
ment as to the composition of this great national council, which 
was about to decide the destinies of France. The grand problem 
to be solved was this : Avhat should be the relative proportion and 
importance of the commons, or tiers e'tat, as compared with the 
representatives of the two privileged classes, the nobles and cler- 
gy. In ancient times, each of the three orders had returned to 
the States-General an equal number of deputies; but it was now 
demanded on the part of the people that their representatives 
should equal those of the other two orders combined; and farther, 
that, in voting, the assembly should form but one united body, in- 
stead of three separate chambers as heretofore. Another point to 
be settled was whether the possession of landed property should 
be a necessary qualification for the deputies of the commons. 
This latter question — one of extreme importance — was at once 
decided by the Notables in the negative ; and the principle of tlie 
double representation of the tiers etat was in like manner rejected 
by a very large majority. Necker was nevertheless induced, by a 
most deploi'able and ruinous misapprehension, to overrule this de- 
termination ; and a royal ordonnance prescribed that the total 



524 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. XXV. 



number of deputies should .be at least one thousand — that the 
principles of election should be those of population and amount 
of taxes contributed in each bailliage — and that the representa- 
tives of the commons should- be equal to those of the other two 
orders conjointly. On the third question — that of the mode of 
voting — no mention was made at all. 

§ 8. The elections took place amid indescribable excitement 
throughout the country, and were in some instances attended 
with serious tumults. Meanwhile Paris was inundated with 
pamphlets upon the- all-engrossing theme, no less than two thou- 
sand having been published in the course of three months. The 
most celebrated was that of the Abbe Sieyes, entitled " What is 
the Tiers Etat ?" which was circulated into every corner of the 
kingdom, and ci'eated an extraordinary and profound impression. 
Its main principles were thus enunciated: "What is the Third 
Estate ? Every thing. What has it been hitherto in a political 
sense? Nothing. What does it ask to be ? Something." 

The winter which preceded the meeting of the States was one 
of unusual severity ; the harvest had partially failed, and provis- 
ions soon rose to an enormous price. This aggravated the suf- 
ferings of the impoverished population, and added- greatly to the 
general discontent and agitation. Necker generausly sacrificed a 
large part of his private fortune in endeavoring to provide food 
for the famishing poor of Paris. 

It was under such gloomy auspices that the States-General met 
at Versailles on the 5th of May, 1789. This memorable day was 
virtually the last of the old Monarchy of France, and the first of 
the Ilevolution. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



ON THE PUBLIC REVENUE, TAXA- 
TION, AND FINANCIAL ADMINISTKA- 
TION. 

The revenues of the early French monarchs 
consisted chiefly of the feudal dues accruing 
to them as lords of the domaine royal. Most 
of these have been already described in the 
Note on the Feudal System (see p. 134). Be- 
sides the ordinai-y seigneurial payments, the 
king was entitled, ou his accession, to the 
droit de joyeux aveneriient, for confirming in 
their appointments all officers depending di- 
rectly on the crown. Farther revenues were 
derived from the regale^ paid by every bishop 
and abbot on succeeding to his preferment : 
from the droit de franc Jief, due from a rotu- 
Her whenever he was raised to the possession 
of a fief; from the sale of charters and muni- 
cipal privileges; from the droit d'aubaine^ by 
which the sovereign claimed the property of 
all foreigners dying on the soil ; from the 



droit de gite and droit de pourvoirie, or de 
prise, which furnished the king and hia 
household with every thing necessary to their 
accommodation during a royal progress. In 
later times one of the most fruitful sources of 
the royal revenue was the sale of public offi- 
ces, venalite des offices — chiefly magisterial 
and judicial.1- which was first introduced by 
Louis XII. on undertaking his Italian wars, 
and was afterward carried to an enormous 
extent under Francis I. and succeeding mon- 
archs. 

The first approach to a regular system of 
taxation dates from the energetic reign of 
Philippe le Bel. This prince levied a taille, 
or general property-tax, amounting at first to 
a hundredth part, and aftenvard to a fiftieth, 
of the value of tlie property assessed. This 
measure provoked a violent resistance,' re- 
volts broke out at Paris, Rouen, and Orleans ; 
and Philip found himself unable to maintain 
the taille as a permanent burden. Ills ne- 



Chap. XXV. 



ON THE PUBLIC REVENUE, ETC. 



525 



cessities compelled him to resort to other fis- 
cal expedients. He imposed a duty on arti- 
cles of consumption; greatly increased the 
gabelle, or salt-tax ; and obtained from the 
States-General of 1314 a percentage of 6 den- 
iers in a livre on the sale of all provisions. 
He also established custom-duties (droit de 
limit-passage) of T deniers per livre on the 
import and export of merchandise. These 
imposts received the generic name otmallotes 
(from the two corrupt Latin words mala tolta), 
and the officers who collected them were call- 
ed Tnaltotiers. 

Charles V. , after the suppression of the in- 
surrection under Marcel, took farther steps to- 
ward a regular fiscal revenue, and in ISGO re- 
newed the taille under the name of fouage, 
at the rate of four livres for every house in the 
towns, and thirty sous in the rural districts. 
(Fouage is derived from feu, answering to 
the English hearth-tax.) But on his death- 
bed Cliarles revoked the fouages. Various 
changes and fluctuations followed ; and the 
taille did not become perpetual until granted 
to Charles VII. by the celebrated edict of the 
States of Orleans in 1439, for the maintenance 
of the standing army. From this date the 
financial system was administered witli great- 
er precision ; its jirincipal resources may be 
classed under the two heads of tallies, or di- 
rect taxes, and aides, or indirect taxes, other- 
wise excise duties. 

I. The taille was at the same time a tax on 
persons and on landed property. It produced 
under Charles VII. 1,800,000 livres; but in- 
creasing with great rapidity, it was raised 
tinder Francis I. to upward of nine millions 
of livres. It soon became odious, and excited 
grave discontent and agitation, not only from 
its burdensome amount, but from the glaring 
inequality of its assessment. The privileged 
orders, the noblesse and the clergy, were al- 
together exempt from the taille ; the former 
on account of their ancient pretensions to feu- 
dal sovereignty, the latter because they voted 
supplies to the crown in their own ecclesias- 
tical assemblies. In consequence, the failles 
pressed exclusively upon the humbler classes ; 
and in course of time the grievance became 
so insupportable that every finance minister 
of modern times made it a primary object to 
diminish the taille. It was considerably re- 
duced by Sully in 1G03, and afterward by 
Eichelieu and Colbei't ; the latter statesman, 
in a remarkable memorial presented to Louis 
XIV. in 1G64, pointed out tlie ruinous op- 
pressiveness of this unjust tax, and strongly 
urged the necessity of abolisliing the exemp- 
tions enjoyed by the richer classes. He suc- 
ceeded in suppressing a great number of false 
titles of nobility, and subjecting the u.-urpers 
to taxation; but after his death (1GS3) the 
tallies and other burdens were again enor- 
mously augmented, and tlie misery tlius oc- 
casioned became eventually one of the main 
causes of the Kevolution. 

The celebrated Vauban proposed, in 169,5, 
to replace the taille and other direct taxes by 
a uniform contribution imder the name of the 
dime rmjale, to be payable by all classes alike. 
This project was unfavorably received by 
Louii XIV., and led to tlie disgrace of its au- 



thor. A tax, however, of the same nature 
and amount — the dixievie — was imposed upon 
the entire nation in 1710, toward the close 
of the great war of the Spanish Succession. 
The dixie-me was to last till the expiration 
of three months from tlie announcement of 
peace; it was continued, in fact, for a much 
longer period. 

II. I'he aides, or excise duties, date from 
the memorable States-General of 1356. They 
were originally voted and assessed by the rep- 
resentatives of those who were to pay them ; 
but the kings soon usurped the right of im- 
posing them by their own authority. They 
became pennanent at the beginning of the 
15th century. The aides were of three kinds : 
1. Ordinary, consisting of the vingtieme, or 
one sou per livre on all liquors sold wholesalf, 
and of the fourth — or, in later times, the 
eighth— part of tlie retail price. 2. Extraor- 
dinary, which were duties levied in time of 
war or other special exigency ; and, 3. Octrois, 
or duties imposed on all provisions exposed 
for sale in towns, a certain proportion of 
which, usually one half, was paid into the 
royal treasury. To these may be added other 
indirect taxes, such as those on gold and sil- 
ver plated articles, on cards and dice, on 
wrought iron, on weiglits and measures, and 
on brokerage. The government monopolies 
of gunpowder, saltpetre, salt, and tobacco, 
were also immensely lucrative sources of rev- 
enue. 

The customs, or douanes, were in ancient 
times of a veiy complicated and vexatious 
nature, including the droit de haui-passage, or 
export duties ; the 7'eve, a duty paid by aliens 
for carrying on traffic in France; and the 
traiteforaine, or import duty. These customs 
were established, not only between France 
and foreign countries, but between different 
provinces of France. Artois, Picardy, Anjou, 
Poitou, Auvergne, Lyonnais, and Languedoc 
possessed each its separate douane with a lo- 
cal tariff; and this multiplicity of duties op- 
erated as a very serious hinderance to com- 
merce. Colbert induced twelve provinces to 
unite in establishing freedom of commercial 
intercourse within thtir limits. These were 
styled the cinq grosses fermes. The rest 
were classed in the two categories of provinces 
repulees etrangeres, and 2>f'ovinces traiiees 
comme pays etrangers. He thus greatly di- 
minished, though he could not extinguish, the 
diversity of export and import duties. He 
also revised and simplified the tariff. 

The system oi farming the public revenue 
obtained in France from an early period. ■ Tlie 
indirect taxes, especially, were leased by the 
crown upon terms wliich enabled the holders 
to realize enormous profits by oppressive ex- 
actions from the people. Hence arose the 
general odium which attached to these farm- 
ers of the taxes, both in ancient and modern 
times. Their extortions became so scandal- 
ous, that both Sully and Colbert were com- 
pelled to cancel the greater part of tlie leases, 
and to apportion them afresli upon more equi- 
table terms. But these reforms proved inef- 
fectual, and ere long the abuses became more 
inveterate than ever. In 1720 tlie farmers 
of the taxes formed a regular associatioi , 



526 



NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 



Chap. XXV. 



called the ferme generate ; it included orig- 
inally {ovtyfe7'iniers generaux, who possessed 
for a specified number of years the exclusive 
management of the gabelle^ the monopoly of 
tobacco, the octrois of Paris, and other excise 
duties. The number of the fermiers gene- 
raux was increased ultimately to sixty. They 
were supported by a crowd of inferior agents, 
called croupiers^ who, without being named 
in the leases, advanced large sums of money 
up:n their credit, and shared amply in their 
profits. The enorm.ous wealth and predom- 
inant influence acquired by these fermiers 
geniraux grew into a serious public evil in 
the latter days of the old monarchy. Minis- 
tex's of state, noblemen, courtiers, and func- 
tionaries of all classes were salaried and pen- 
sioned by the ferraiei's, and were thus di- 
rectly interested in keeping up the ruinous 
system. Necker made a vigorous attempt to 
remedy the evil by withdrawing some of the 
taxes from the fermiers, and placing them 
under the direct control of the crown ; but 
the pi'oject succeeded only partially, and the 
old arrangement remained substantially in 
force until it was swept away by the revolu- 
tionary constitution of 1791. 

Financial Jukisdiction and Adminis- 
TEATioN. — The administration of the finances 
was originally in the hands of the civil and 
military officers of the crown — the baillif!, 
.lemchau.v, prevots^ and vicomtes. Philip IV. 
took the first step toward separating these 
functions, by instituting the Chamber des 
Comptes for the supreme control of all mat- 
ters relating to the finances. This court be- 
came sedentary at Paris by an edict of Philip 
V. in 1319. It consisted of two presidents, 
ten maitres des comptes, and other officers 
called correcteurs, clercs, and cmditeurs. A 
farther change took place by the creation of 
the Cour des Aides, which was first fully 
organized in the reign of Charles VII. This 
tribunal tried and decided en dernier ressort, 
all legal actions and causes connected with 
matters of taxation and finance, the chambre 
des comptes being thenceforth restricted to 
the collection and management of the rev- 
enue. In process of time auxiliary chambres 
des comptes and coiirs des aides were estab- 
lished in the provinces — at Dijon, Grenoble, 
>fantes, Rouen, Blois, Montpellier, etc. ; but 
they were all subject to the supreme jurisdic- 
tion of the courts at Paris. In the time of 
Louis XIV. tlie chambre des comxites com- 
prehended no less than 220 judges and offi- 
cers of various ranks. At the moment of its 
suppi-ession in 1790 it numbered in all 2S9 
members. 

The earliest ministers of finance were des- 
ignated siirintendants des finances ; the un- 
fortunate Enguerrand de JNIarigny was the 
first appointed to this office by Philip the 
Fair. Afterward they were called tresoriers 
de France, and sometimes, as in the case of 
the famous Jacques Coeur, had the title of 
argcnfier du rot. 

In 1523 Francis I. instituted a central 
treasury, under the name of the epargne, 
into which were paid all receipts on account 



of the public taxes, the excise, and the do- 
maine royal. At the head of this was placed 
the tresorier de Vepargne, assisted by two 
controleurs generaux. It was their duty to 
make all payments out of the funds of the 
state, upon the authority of orders signed by 
the surintendant des finances ; these vouchers 
were to be produced when they passed their 
accounts before the chambre des comptes. 
A few years later France was divided for fis- 
cal purposes into seventeen districts, called 
generali.es; these were afterward added to 
and subdivided; in the 18th century there 
were twenty generalitis des pays d'elcction, 
six generalitis des]}ays ductals, and seven in- 
tendances. To each of these circumscriptions 
belonged a Bureau des Finances, composed 
of two tresoriers, two receveurs generaxix, a 
garde du tresor, and other officers. These 
bureaux were created by Heniy III. in 1577. 
They were charged with the distribution of 
the taxes within their several limits, with the 
superintendence of subordinate agents, and 
with the general jurisdiction in matters af- 
fecting taxation, subject to appeals to the 
Parliaments. All these offices were venal, 
and were for that reason multiplied by the 
cro\vTi from time to time on various pretexts. 

This complicated and cumbrous machinery 
existed without material alteration down to 
the Revolution of 1789. In 1661 the office of 
surintendant des finances was suppressed, 
and replaced by that of controleur general. 
The first of these was the immortal Jean 
Baptiste Colbert. 

The chambre des comptes, cour des aides, 
and btireaux des finances, were all abolished 
in 1790. A bureau de complabiliie was 
named to undertake their functions provi- 
sionally, and an entirely new financial ad- 
ministration was introduced under the Con- 
sulate, framed chiefly by the talented minis- 
ter Gaudin, afterward Duke of Gaeta. Un- 
der this system the supreme control of the 
public treasury was intnistedto the ministrc 
des finances. In tlie chef-lieu of each de- 
partment was establislied a receveur general 
for the revenue of the whole department; 
each arrondissement or sous-prefecture had 
its receveur jMrticulier ; and each canton, or 
group of three or more communes, its per- 
cepteur, to whom all the direct taxes were 
payable. 

The contributions indirectes, or excise, to- 
gether with the customs, the administration 
des domaines, the enregistrement, and other 
branches of the revenue, formed several dis- 
tinct jurisdictions. All cases of complaint 
against the fiscal government were to be 
heard in the first instance before the conseils 
de 2)refecture, from which an appeal lay to 
the final judgment of the Council of State. 

The cour des comptes was restored by a 
decree of the first Napoleon in 1807, as a su- 
preme tribunal for tlie revision and auditing 
of the public accounts. 

The financial organization of the first em- 
pire has remained in force, with slight mod- 
ifications, down to the present time. 




Medal commemorative of the night of August 4, 1T89. (For reverse, see p. 534,a 



BOOK VII. 
EEVOLUTIONAEY FEANCE. 

FROM THE MEETING OF THE STATES-GENERAL TO THE ACCESSION C^ 
NAPOLEON III. A.D. 1789-1852. 



CHAPTEE XXVI. 

FROM THE MEETING OF THE STATES-GENERAL TO THE DEATH OP 

LOUIS XVI. A.D. 1789-1793. 

§ 1. Proceedings of the States - General ; The National Assembly; the 
Oath of the Jeu de Paume ; the Eoyal Sitting ; Fusion of the Three Or- 
ders. § 2. Troops drawn round Paris ; Insurrection ; Camille Desmou- 
lins ; Fall of the Bastile ; Louis at the Hotel de Ville ; Murder of Foulon. 
§ 3. Vote of the 4th of August ; Debates on the Veto ; Banquet at Ver- 
sailles ; the Mob of Paris inarch to Versailles and attack the Chateau ; 
the King and Royal Family brought back to Paris. § 4. Measures of the 
National Assembly ; Confiscation of Church Property ; the Assignats. 
§ 5. Emigration of the Nobility ; Fete of the Federation ; Retirement of 
Necker. § 6. Intrigues of the Court with Mirabeau ; Death of Mirabeau ; 
the Flight to Varennes; Affair of the Champ de Mars. § 7. The LeG" 
ISLATIVE Assembly ; State of Parties ; the Feuillants ; the Girondins. 
§ 8. Decrees against the Emigrants and the Non-juring Priests; Petion 
Mayor of Paris ; Declaration of Pilnitz ; the Girondist Ministry ; France 
declares War against Austria. § 9. Position and Strength of the French 
Armies ; Reverses in the Netherlands ; Dismissal of the Girondist Minis- 
tcj-s ; Lafayette's Letter to the Assembly ; Insurrection of the 20th of 
Juno. § 10. The Country proclaimed to be in Danger; March of the 



A.D. 1789. MEETING OF ThS STATES-GENERAL. 529 

Federates to Paris ; Proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick ; popular In- 
dignation at Paris; Preparations for Insurrection. § 11. The 10th of Au- 
gust ; Capture of the Tuileries ; Massacre of the Swiss Guard ; Deposition 
of Louis. § 12. The Eoyal Family committed to the Temple ; the Prus- 
sians invade France, and take Longwy and Verdun ; Defection of Lafay- 
ette. § 13.' Consternation at Paris; Massacres of September. § 14. 
Successful Operatio'ns of Dumouriez ; Battle of. Valmy ; Ketreat of the 
Prussians to the Rhine; Battle of Jemmapes; Conquest of Belgium. 
§ 15. The National Convention; the Girondists, the Montague, the 
Plaine; Debates on the Trial of the King. § 16. The King brought to 
Trial before the Convention ; his Defense by Deseze. § 17. Violent Scenes 
in the Convention ; Louis sentenced to Death ; his Execution. 

§ 1. The States-General met on the 5tli of May, 1789, in the 
hall of the "Menus Plaisirs" at Versailles, which had been pre- 
pared for the occasion. The king, after the imposing pageant of 
a magnificent procession fi-om the church of Notre Dame to the 
hall of meeting, opened the session in a speech full of generous, 
benevolent, and conciliating sentiments, which was favorably re- 
ceived. Necker followed, and made a financial statement which, 
although perspicuous and well-arranged, Avearied the audience by 
the length of its details ; his tone with regard to projected reforms 
was also considered vague and unsatisfactory. The first business 
to be transacted by the Chambers was to verify their Avrits of re- 
turn. The assembly consisted of eleven hundred and forty-five 
members, of wliom two hundred and ninety-one belonged to the 
clergy, two hundred and seventy to the nobility, and five hundred 
and eighty-four to the tiers etat. Thus the plebeian deputies more 
than outnumbered the united force of the nobles and clergy ; and 
when we add to this that two thirds of the clerical representatives 
were parish priests, who from habit and association would natu- 
rally sympathize with and support the tiers etat, it is plain that 
the predominance of the people was, from the first, decisive and 
irresistible. The commons, who, on account of their numbers, 
occupied the great hall of assembly, invited the attendance of the 
nobles and clergy, in order to perform this duty in conjunction ; a 
proceeding designed to settle, by tacit implication, the all-import- 
ant question of the mode of voting — that it should take place, not 
by separate orders, but together and numerically. The nobles de- 
clined this proposal, verified their powers in their own chamber, 
and declared themselves constituted. The clergy made a simihir 
decision, but proposed a conference to adjust the difficulty; this 
accordingly took place, but without effect beyond that of increas- 
ing the disunion and irritation between the orders. The tiers etat, 
conscious of its overwhelming strength, persisted in its system 
of passive obstruction ; the deputies refused to enter on any busi- 

Z 



530 



LOUIS *XVf. CuAP. XXVI. 



ness, and announced that, in the absence of the other two orders, 
they remained unconstituted for the purposes of legislation. Sev- 
eral weeks were thus passed in inaction ; a conciliatory attempt 
on the part of the court proved fruitless ; and at length, on the 
10th of June, after bold and inflammatoiy speeches from the fa- 
mous Count Mirabeau and the Abbe Sieyes, the commons pro- 
ceeded to the verification of powers for the whole body of repre- 
sentatives, whether present or absent. They were now joined by 
a few members of the clergy, but the nobles resolutely continued 
to stand aloof On the I7th, again at the instigation of Sieyes, 
the commons, rejecting the title of States-General, assumed that 
of the National Assembly, and proclaimed that, being now rec- 
ognized as the sole legitimate representatives of the French peo- 
ple, they would at once address themselves to the great and lu*- 
gent questions of the state of the nation, and imperative measures 
of reform. The clergy, on the next day but one, determined, 
though by a small majority, to unite itself with this self-consti- 
tuted Legislature. 

The king, the royal family, the court, even Necker himself, were 
dismayed by this energetic and audacious conduct. The great no- 
bles besought Louis to repress with a vigorous hand tliis first at- 
tempt on the part of the commons to possess themselves of supreme 
power. It was resolved, by the advice of Necker, to hold a royal 
sitting in the Assembly, in which, with every appearance of gra- 
cious concession, the alarming aggression of the tiers e'tat should 
be firmly met and arrested ; and the meetings of the deputies were 
suspended by proclamation for three days, under the pretext of 
making the necessary preparations in the hall. The president, 
Bailly, accompanied by several members, presented himself not- 
withstanding at the doors, Avhere he found a guard of soldiers 
posted, and was refused entrance. Bailly, indignant at this in- 
vasion of the rights of the Assembly, protested strongly against 
the violence ; the deputies hurriedly gathered round him, and it 
Avas resolved to adjourn to a neighboring tennis-court (jetc de 
paume), where, with every demonstration of patriotic ardor and 
enthusiasm, the members took a solemn oath " that they wbuld 
continue to meet for the dispatch of business wherever circum- 
stances might require, until the constitution of the kingdom had 
been established upon sound and solid foundations." A farther 
attempt was made by the court to prevent the meeting of the 
Assembly on the 22d ; it took place, nevertheless, in the church 
of St. Louis, and here one hundred and forty-nine deputies of the 
clei'gy, headed by the Archbishop of Vienne, associated themselves 
with the tiers e'tat. The royal sitting was held on the 23d of 
Juno according to appointment. The king severely condemned 



A.D. 1789 THE ROYAL SITTING. 531 

the proceedings of the commons, and afterward propounded a se- 
ries of extensive changes and concessions, which, had they been 
offered at the proper time, and with an ait of unconstrained good- 
will, would most probably have been accepted with universal grat- 
itude and joy. But it was the fate of" Louis, like that of our own 
imfortunate Charles, to yield in an ungracious manner, and at a 
moment when yielding could no longer profit him. His language 
and demeanor on this occasion commenced that rupture between 
himself, the States-General, and the nation, which ended in his 
ruin. He concluded his speech by ordering the deputies to ad- 
journ immediately, and to reassemble the next day in the separ- 
ate chambers assigned to them, for the dispatch of business. An 
expression was added, which resembled a threat to dissolve the 
Assembly in case of a refusal to comply with his commands. 
Then followed one of the most remarkable scenes of the Revolu- 
tion. When the king withdrew, the nobles and the greater part 
of the clergy also quitted the hall ; the tiers e'tat retained their 
seats. After a time the Marquess of Breze, grand master of the 
ceremonies, reappeared, and said, " Gentlemen, you have heard 
the orders of the king." "Yes," replied the president; "and I 
am now about to take the orders of the Assembly." Mirabeau 
then rose, and said, " Yes, sir, we have heard the king's inten- 
tions ; and you, who have no seat or voice in this Assembjy, are 
no fit organ of communication to remind us of his speech. Ke- 
turn and tell your master that we are here by the power of the 
people, and that nothing short of the bayonet shall drive us hence." 
The marquess retired ; and the Assembly, having been reminded 
by Sieyes that " they were to-day neither more nor less than they 
had been yesterday," proceeded to vote the personal inviolability 
of its members, and to denounce the penalty of death against any 
one who should attack their liberty. 

The king had now the weakness to make it a personal and ur- 
gent request to the rest of the deputies of the nobility and clergy 
that they would join the sittings of the tiers e'tat. With great 
reluctance they complied ; and the fusion of the three orders took 
place accordingly on the 27th of June. By this fatal measure 
Louis sanctioned all the unconstitutional assumptions of the low- 
er chamber, and signed, in effect, his own death-warrant. 

§ 2. Another step soon followed in the same disastrous course. 
The queen and her intimate advisers determined Louis to attempt 
maintaining his authority by force ; and for this purpose, an army 
of forty thousand men was concentrated from various quarters 
upon Paris and its vicinity, and placed under the orders of Mar- 
shal Broglie. Among these troops were several regiments of 
Swiss and Germans. At the same moment, Necker, whom the 



532 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

court party distrusted and feared, was dismissed from office, and 
commanded to leave France forthwith. He obeyed, and retired 
to Brussels. 

No sooner was tliis publicly known than a violent insurrection 
burst forth in the capital. A young man named Camille Des- 
raoulins harangued the populace with burning eloquence in the 
Palais Royal; the cry "To arms!" resounded on all sides; the 
multitude rushed tumultuously toward the Hotel de Ville ; and a 
charge made by the Prince of Lambesc at the head of a German 
regiment, by which several persons were killed and wounded, in- 
flamed their indignation to the utmost pitch of fury. An assem- 
bly of electors, sitting at the Plotel de A'ille, governed the move- 
ments of the insurgents ; they ordered the immediate enrollment 
of a national burgher guard, and took vigorous measures for pro- 
viding these enthusiastic volunteers with arms ; fifty thousand 
pikes Avere manufactured in two days, and an immense quantity 
of muskets, swords, and cannon were seized at the Hotel des In- 
valides. The royal troops, meanwhile, remained inactive in their 
encampment in the Champs Elysees, their officers, it is supposed, 
having good reason to believe they would not act against the peo- 
ple. Thus the mob found themselves, in fact, masters of Paris, 
and on the 14th of July a desperate attack was made on the Bas- 
tile. The governoi*, De Launay, defended himself nobly with his 
scanty garrison of two hundred Swiss ; but an entrance was at 
length forced with cannon, and after a bloody conflict of five 
hours, this detested strong-hold of despotism was stormed and 
captured. De Launay and three of his officers were barbarously 
murdered ; and the pre'vot des marchands Flesselles, whom the 
savage victors accused of treachery to the popular cause, shared 
the same fate. 

From the first moment of the outbreak at Paris, Versailles had 
been a scene of extreme agitation and terror. The Assembly sent 
a deputation to the king to request him to dismiss the troops ; 
this Louis declined, but offered, if the members felt alarmed, to 
transfer their sittings to Soissons, and to proceed himself to Com- 
piegne. When the Duke de Liancourt came to announce to him 
the fall of the Bastile, the king exclaimed, "This is a revolt!" 
"Sire," replied the duke, "it is a Revolution." The next morn- 
ing Louis went to the hall of the Assembly on foot and without 
guards, and in a few simple and touching words assured the rep- 
resentatives that they had nothing to fear, promised to dismiss the 
foreign troops and to recall Necker, and expressed the utmost con- 
fidence in the loyalty of his hearers. He was received with trans- 
ports of applause, and reconducted by a deputation of the mem- 
bei'S to tlie palace. On the following day, Louis, in compliance 



A.D. 1789. 



LOUIS AT THE HOTEL DE VILLE. 



533 



with the advice of Lafayette and of the famous astronomer Bailly, 
who had just been nominated Mayor of Paris, proceeded from 
Versailles to the capital, escorted by an immense multitude of the 
lowest rabble, hastily armed with pikes, hatchets, and muskets 
and dragging with them some pieces of artillery. The cortege 
reached the Hotel de Ville in safety, although an outbreak of vio- 
lence had been fully expected. Bailly welcomed the king with 
much specious profession of loyalty, and placed in his hands the 
keys of the city, observing that they were the same keys that had 




The Unteiu 



uuincr of the Place de GKvc. 



been presented to Henry IV. ''Then,'' continued the orator, "it 
was the king who had reconquered his people ; now it is the people 
who have made a conquest of their king." Having assumed the 
tri-colored cockade, and confirmed the appointment of Lafayette 
as commandant of the newly-formed city militia, henceforth called 
the National Guard, Louis then withdrew, and returned to Ver- 
sailles under the protection of his body-guard. 
- The fury of the people, however, demanded victims. Their 



534 



LOUIS XVI. 



Chap. XXVI. 



rage was directed against Foulon, who bad succeeded Necker as 
one of the new ministry. He attempted to escape, but was seized 
on his way to Fontainebleau, and dragged back to Paris, to tlio 
Hotel de Ville, on the 22d of July. Lafayette attempted to save 
him by proposing to conduct him to the prison of the Abbaye ; 
but the mob, impatient for their prey, hung him by the lantern at 
the corner of the street. His son-in-law Berthier was seized 
later in the day, and was hanged in the same way. This was the 
beginning of mob-law, and of the fatal cry of a la lanterne, which 
was so frequently heard in the streets of Paris. 

§ 3. The spirit of lawlessness and insurrection now spread rap- 
idly into the provinces. The peasants in various districts, espe- 
cially in Dauphine, Provence, and Burgundy, rose against the 
landed proprietors, and fearful scenes of plunder, devastation, and 
bloodshed ensued. The National Assembly, upon receiving the 
news of these excesses, entered upon an animated discussion of the 
measures to be taken for the restoration of order; and two noble- 
men, the Viscount of Noailles and the Duke of Aiguillon, pro- 
posed as a remedy that all feudal rights and exclusive privileges 
should be redeemed at a valuation, and that all seigneurial cor- 
vees, and other antiquated claims of personal service, should be 
absolutely abolished. The impulse thus hastily given was follow- 
ed up with Avild and reckless enthusiasm ; the members eagerly 
vied with each other in devising acts of self-sacrifice for the pub- 
lic benefit ; and on the memorable night of the 4th of August a 




Kcverse of medal commemoi'ativo of niglit of August 4, 1TS3. {For obverse, see p. .'>10.) 



A.T>. 1789. 



PATIilOTIC GIFTS. 



535 



general immolation was voted of the ancient feudal constitution 
Avhich had reigned for so many centuries in France. The decree 
passed by the Assembly on this occasion was an act of revolution 
more profound and sweeping than even the destruction of the Bas- 
tile. It entirely changed the face of society ; and like so many of 
those sudden schemes of reform which spring up in times of pop- 
ular agitation, it ended in extremes Which were by no means con- 
templated when it was first proposed. The ecclesiastical tithes, 
which in the first instance had been declared redeemable, were 
abolished, a few days later, without compensation ; the Assembly 
simply undertaking in vague terms to provide a maintenance for 
the clergy. Against this act of spoliation the Abbe Sieyes pro- 
tested in a vehement and well-reasoned speech, and the debate was 
protracted to some length ; but the measure was eventually car- 
ried by an immense majority. "You have vinloosed the bull, 
M. I'Abbe','' observed Mirabeau to Sieyes, " and you must not be 
surprised if he makes use of his horns." The king was com- 
pelled, however reluctantly, to accept the whole of these alarming 
decrees, upon which he was saluted by the Assembly as the " Re- 
storer of French Liberty." A Te Deum was chanted in celebra- 
tion of the event. 




On! BKAVO, Mesdames; o'est j>o:so a votric toui: 
Patriotic Gifts. Ttli September, 17Si). (From an engraving of tlie time.) 

The example of the Assembly inspired in the other citizens a 
desire of making sacrifices for the benefit of tlie state. On the 
7th of September a deputation from the wives of the artists pre- 
sented to the Assembly a casket full of jewels ; and for many 
months similar patriotic gifts were made to the Assembly toward 
llie payment of the national debt and the support of the poor. 

The Assembly next occupied itself in drawing up a " Declara- 



536 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

lion of the Rights of Man," in imitation of a similar document 
published by the patriots of North America ; after which follow- 
ed lengthened deliberations upon the form of the new constitution, 
and especially upon the questions whether the Legislature should 
consist of two chambers or of one, and whether the royal veto 
upon laws proposed by the Assembly should be absolute or only 
suspensive. It was decided by large majorities that the power 
of legislation should reside in a single chamber, and that the veto 
of the crown should be suspensive during the term of two sessions. 
This restrictive clause, which left to the crown little more than a 
nominal prerogative, was carried in opposition to Mirabeau, who 
argued with extraordinary eloquence in favor of the absolute veto. 
Mounier, Lally Tollendal, Clermont de la Tonnerre, Malouet, and 
other wise and moderate members, also voted in the minority. 

Meanwhile the court party, alarmed by rumors of a fresh in- 
surrectionary outbreak at Paris, labored to persuade the king to 
withdraw to Metz, the head-quarters of a considerable force under 
the Marquess of Bouille. Failing in this, they induced him to 
recall to Versailles one of the regiments of the line, called that of 
Flanders. On the 3d of October the officers of this regiment 
were entertained at a grand banquet by their comrades of the 
body-guard in the theatre of the palace. Great enthusiasm was 
manifested ; loyal toasts were given, loyal airs played by the band ; 
the boxes were crowded by the noblemen and ladies of the court ; 
the king and queen, with the infant dauphin, made their appear- 
ance among the guests, and their presence raised the prevailing 
excitement to the higlftst pitch ; the Avhite cockade of the Bour- 
bons was distributed with rapturous applause, and it is said that 
the national tri-color was trodden under foot. 

When the news of this indiscreet proceeding reached Paris, it 
was instantly denounced by the popular leaders as an attempt on 
the part of the court to create a counter-revolution ; and as the 
lower classes were suffering at this moment from a scarcity of 
provisions, the prospect of famine, added to other provocations, 
made it easy to excite them to fresh acts of lawless commotion 
and violence. The outbreak which followed is generally attribu- 
ted to the agency of the turbulent and worthless Duke of Orleans, 
whose feelings toward his relative, Louis XVI., were those of 
jealous and bitter hatred, and who probably aimed at obtaining, 
by means of his deposition, the first place in the government. 
The mob of Paris was instigated to march to Versailles. Head- 
ed by a band of half-frantic women, they set out on the morning 
of the 5th of October, under the leadership of one Maillard, a no- 
torious ruffian who had distinguished himself at the capture of 
the Bastile. On their arrival in the afternoon, they rushed to 



A.D. 178<). MOB AT VERSAILLES. 537 

the hall of the Assembly, and Maillard, attended by a crowd of 
women, proceeded to harangue the dismayed legislators, exposing 
to them the miseries of the famished people, and demanding in- 
stant redress. Mounier, the president, was directed to go at once 
to the palace, whither sevei'al of the female rioters insisted on ac- 
companying him. The king received them with his wonted affa- 
bility, and such was the impression made on his strange visitoi's 
by the kindness of his language and demeanor, that their fury was 
for the moment completely overcome, and they retired from the 
presence with acclamations of "Vive le Roi!" In the mean time, 
however, a fierce brawl haxl broken out in the square before the 
chateau between the rest of the Parisian rabble, the body-guard, 
and, the national guard of Versailles. Two of the body-guards 
were killed, and several women wounded. The irritation of the 
mob now rapidly increased ; they broke out into furious impreca- 
tions and threats against the court, especially against the queen ; 
and caused general terror by establishing themselves for the night 
by the side of large fires in every part of the town. About mid- 
night Lafayette at length arrived from Paris at the head of the 
national guard ; he hastened to the palace, and reassured the king 
and the royal family by answering for the fidelity of his troops. 
Louis intrusted the exterior posts of the chateau to his charge, 
and then retii'ed to rest; Lafayette, worn out with fatigue and 
anxiety, himself sought repose at five in the morning. Before 
daylight a party of the rioters gained entrance to the chateau 
through a gate which had been left unfastened, and penetrated 
with horrid menaces to the door of the queen's apartment. The 
sentinel, assaulted and severely wounded, had just time to alarm 
the ladies in waiting, who warned the queen, and she escaped into 
the king's bedcliamber. The palace now became a scene of in- 
describable tumult. The multitude rushed in, and were nobly 
confronted by the faithful body-giiai'd, several of whom lost their 
lives; Lafayette, roused from his slumbers,. at last made his ap- 
pearance with a party of grenadiers, rescued seventeen body-guards 
Avho were on the point of being massacred, and by dint of extra- 
ordinary personal energy, bravery, and resolution, succeeded in 
expelling the murderous brigands from the chateau. The dis- 
turbance was thus quelled ; but it was found absolutely necessary 
to comply with the demand of the populace that the king and his 
family should return immediately to Paris, where their movements 
would be under the eye and control of the municipality and the 
revolutionary leaders. This humiliating journey accordingly took 
place on the Gtli of October, the royal carriages moving at a slow 
pace in tlie midst of a vast tumultuous throng of the lowest of the 
people, madly exulting in their triumph over their captive sover- 



538 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

eign. " We shall not die of hunger now," cried the furious 2^ois- 
sardes, "foi* here is the baker, his wife, and the little apprentice!" 
On alighting at the Tuileries at the close of this agitating day the 
unhappy Louis must have felt that he Avas entering a prison i-ath- 
er than a palace. The National Assembly in like manner trans- 
ferred its sittings to the capital. 

§ 4. Notwithstanding the fearful excesses of these days of Oc- 
tober, nearly a year now elapsed in comparative order and tran- 
quillity. The Assembly pursued its labors in organizing the new 
constitution, although many of its most valuable members, at the 
head of whom were Mounier and Lally Tollendal, had given in 
their resignation and retired, despairing of the state of affairs. 
Every remaining vestige of disability and restriction was unspar- 
ingly swept away. All religious persuasions were declared equal 
before the law; the right of succession by primogeniture was ab- 
rogated, and parents were compelled to make an equal division of 
their property among all their children ; the liberty of the press 
was proclaimed ; hereditary titles of nobility were suppressed, and 
the aristocracy reduced to the level of ordinary citizens ; all 
Frenchmen, without distinction of class or creed, were declared 
alike admissible to all civil and military employments ; the crim- 
inal code was reformed, and its provisions much mitigated with 
regard to capital punishment. The ancient division of France 
into provinces was now replaced by the creation of eighty-three 
nearly equal departments, Avhich Avere again subdivided into dis- 
tricts, cantons, and communes. The electoral franchise was placed 
virtually in the hands of every individual citizen. These were 
momentous changes, all tending alike to the total abolition of the 
old monarchical system, and the consolidation of the supreme pow- 
er in the hands of a centralized governrnent, directed really by the 
representatives of the people. 

The Assembly Avas also anxiously engaged on the all-import- 
ant subject of national finances. Necker, on resuming office, had 
found it necessary to propose two loans, of thirty and of eighty 
millions of francs, and also an extraordinary tax amounting to a 
fourth part of the contributors' income. These measures had been 
sanctioned, after long debates, by the Assembly, but the loans 
could not be negotiated, and the income-tax, being assessed by the 
proprietors themselves, and very partially collected, proved quite 
inadequate to the necessities of the state. In this emergency it 
was resolved to confiscate the entire possessions of the Church of 
France. Upon the motion of Talleyrand de Pe'rigord, bishop of 
Autun, the Church estates Avere declared the property of tJie na- 
tion, and a decree AA-as passed authorizing their sale for the public 
benefit to the amount of four hundred millions of francs. Such, 



A.D. 1790. EMIGRATION OF THE NOBILITY. 539 

however, was the state of confusion and alarm. which now pre- 
vailed throughout the country, that it was found extremely diffi- 
cult to obtain purchasers. To meet the urgency of the moment, 
the corporation of Paris contracted to take a certain portion of the 
sequestered estates, which was to be resold in course of time to 
private individuals ; other municipalities followed this example ; 
and as they were unable to pay in specie, they were allowed to 
issue bonds or promissory notes, secured upon the property, Avhich 
the creditors of the state were to accept instead of money. It was 
thus that the famous system of assignats took its rise. These as- 
signats were afterward issued upon the credit of the government, 
and, a forced currency being given to them, they were made to 
answer all the purposes of coin. But, as tlie value of the assig- 
nats depended wholly upon public credit, the subsequent rapid 
march of the Kevolution reduced them at length to a state of ut- 
ter depreciation. They Avere reissued from time to time in im- 
mense.quantities, but became altogether worthless in the end, the 
amount in circulation far exceeding the whole value of the prop- 
erty which they professedly represented. 

§ 5. Lafayette and Necker now united their influence to pro- 
cure the exile of the Duke of Orleans, who quitted France under 
cover of a diplomatic mission to England. The emigration of the 
higher nobility, which had commenced almost immediately after 
the fall of the Bastile, also greatly increased. The Count of Ar- 
tois, brother of the king, the Princes of Conde and Conti, the 
Dukes of Bourbon and Enghien, several members of the Polignac 
family, and others bearing the most illustrious names in the king- 
dom, abandoned their country in this hour of terror, and sought 
shelter in Piedmont, Switzerland, the towns on the Ehine, and in 
England, 

Tlie fete of the Federation, celebrated on the anniversary of the 
taking of the Bastile, July 14, 1790, was one of the few days dur- 
ing the progress of the Revolution which gave some faint promise 
of the restoration of social order, and the advent of a more aus- 
picious era for France. An altar was erected in the midst of the 
Champ de Mars ; in front of this the king took his seat upon a 
splendid throne, the president of the Assembly occupying one pre- 
cisely similar at his side. The royal family were seated immedi- 
ately behind, and the vast square Avas thi-onged by the members 
of the Legislature, the national guard, the troops of the line, sixty 
thousand federates, and a countless multitude of the population of 
Paris. Pligh mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Autun ; after 
which Lafayette recited the oath of fidelity to the new constitu- 
tion, and, taking it first himself, was followed by the whole body 
of the federates, each raising his riglit hand and exclaiming, " Je 



540 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI, 

le jure !" Louis took the oath in the form prescribed for him by 
the Assembly, and the queen at the same moment held up the dau- 
phin in her arms, as if to associate him Avith his father's act. 
This festive demonstration produced intense and wide-spread en- 
thusiasm ; but, as one of the historians remarks, it was a fete 
which " had no morrow." Fresh revolutionary agitation broke 
out immediately afterward, and serious riots occurred, especially 
at Marseilles, Valence, Nismes, and Toulouse. Several regiments 
mutinied in the garrison at Nancy, and were not reduced to sub- 
mission by the Marquess of Bouille till after a combat in which 
two thousand lives were sacrificed. Necker, finding that his pop- 
ularity had greatly declined, and that he had lost his influence 
both with the king, his colleagues, and the Assembly, now re- 
signed his office, and retired, for the last time, into Switzerland. 
(September, 1790.) 

§ 6. An attempt was made at this juncture by the court to 
avert the ruin Avhich but too cleai'ly threatened the raonarehy, by 
entei-ing into a secret correspondence with the brilliant and vain- 
glorious Mirabeau, who in January, 1791, was appointed presi- 
dent of the Assembly, and was perhaps at this moment the most 
admired and commanding personage in the kingdom. Mirabeau 
accepted a large monthly pension from Monsieur, had an interview 
Avith Marie Antoinette in the park of St. Cloud, and is said to 
have drawn up a plan for arresting the torrent of democratic an- 
archy, and establishing the authority of Louis as a constitutional 
sovereign. The king was to take his departure secretly from 
Paris, and proceed either to Lyons or Metz, where he would be 
surrounded by troops and generals faithfully devoted to him. He 
was then to repudiate all the proceedings and decrees of the ex- 
isting Legislature, to pronounce its dissolution, and summon an- 
other to meet forthwith. Mirabeau conceived himself strong 
enough to insure a majority of moderate men, disposed to maintain 
a limited monarchy, in the new Assembly ; he reckoned on the 
zealous adhesion of the clergy, who, since the confiscation of their 
property, were bitterly exasperated against the present leaders and 
the whole revolutionaiy movement ; the noblesse and the heads 
of the army might be depended on for rallying round the throne ; 
and the Parisian mob was to be coerced and overpowered, in case 
of necessity, by armed foi^ce.* This scheme, in the existing state 
of parties, wore the appearance of very probable success; Louis, 
however, from natural indecision of character, and from an insur- 
mountable horror of civil war, long hesitated to accept it ; and 
when at last he had reconciled his mind to its adoption, the course 
of events had rendered it no longer practicable. Mirabeau, who 

* Dumont, Souvenirs siir Mirahean. 



A.D. 1791. THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES. ' 54 1 

had ruined his constitution by habits of long-continued intemper- 
ance and debauchery, was attacked by an incurable disease, and, 
after a few Aveeks of intense suffering, expired on the 2d of April, 
1791. The death of this celebrated man was a serious misfortune 
to the cause both of royalty and of constitutional liberty, as it 
threw the chief authority in the Assembly into the hands of agi- 
tatoi's pledged to the most extreme doctrines of republicanism. 
Mirabeau predicted in his last moments the approaching ruin of 
the monarchy: "When I am gone," said he, " the factions will 
soon rend it into fragments." 

Finding his position more and more critical, and exposed daily 
to fresh mortifications and insults, Louis eagerly pursued the proj- 
ect of effecting an escape to the frontiers ; and measures were con- 
certed for this purpose with Bouille, who had collected a large 
body of troops, upon whose loyalty he placed great reliance, in his 
camp at Montme'dy. The king also, entered into negotiation with 
several foreign princes, especially with his brother-in-law the Emr 
peror of Germany, to obtain their armed intervention in his favor 
in case of necessity. The emperor, at an interview with the Count 
of Artois at Mantua, engaged to march thirty- five thousand men 
to the Flemish frontier, and fifteen thousand more into Alsace, 
while other points of the kingdom were to be menaced simultane- 
ously by the forces of Piedmont and Spain. The king now drew 
up a temperate manifesto, to be presented to the Assembly after 
his departure, in Avhich he recapitulated all the acts of violence 
and crime perpetrated against the crown and the constitution dur- 
ing the past two years, and declared that he found it absolutely 
necessary to withdraw to the army, in order to recover his own 
freedom of action, and to effect the restoration of public order and 
security. Bouille having made his preparations, by stationing va- 
rious detachments of hussars along the road, under pretense of 
escorting a large sum of money expected from Paris for the pay- 
ment of the troops, Louis quitted the Tuileries in disguise at mid- 
night on the 20th of June, Avith the queen, his sister Madame 
Elizabeth, the dauphin, the princess royal, and Mme. de Tourzel, 
governess to the royal children. The fugitives drove rapidly to 
Bondy, Avhere they entered a traveling-carriage Avhich aAvaited 
them, and proceeded in safety as far as Chalons-sur-Marne. Here 
it seems that the king Avas recognized by more than one individu- 
al, Avho, however, made no attempt to impede his progress. The 
carriage advanced to Ste. Menehould ; at that place the king, im- 
prudently putting his head- out of the AvindoAv in his agitation at 
not finding the expected escort, Avas observed and at once identi- 
fied by Drouet, the son of the postmaster, a young man of violent 
republican opinions, Avho resolved to arrest his unfortunate pov- 



542 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

ereign. Having overheard the direction given to the postillions 
to drive to Varennes, a small town which lay off the high road to 
Montmedy, Drouet rode at full speed across the country to that 
place, and alarmed the municipality. The royal carriage was. 
stopped on its arrival late at night, and detained on various pre- 
tenses until a sufficient force of national guards had been collect- 
ed, when Sausse, the procureur of the commune, informed the king 
that he was discovered and was a prisoner. All this time a de- 
tachment of Bouille's hussars was waiting in the lower town of 
Varennes, the commanding officer, through some unaccountable 
want of intelligence, being ignorant of the events which were pass^ 
ing beyond the bridge. A messenger arrived at five in the morn- 
ing with a decree of tlie Assembly for the immediate return of 
the royal family to Paris ; the hussars, who might have rescued 
them, refused to obey their officers, and fraternized with the na- 
tional guard ; the king's carriage was turned back, and retraced 
the road to the metropolis. An hour and a half afterward, Bou- 
ille himself reached Varennes, after a forced march of twenty- 
seven miles, with a whole regiment of cavalry ; but he found the 
bridge broken down, and the passage of the river strongly guard- 
ed ; the difficulties were insuperable ; he was compelled to. give up 
the enterprise as hopeless, and consult his own safety by crossing 
the frontier into Germany. The king was joined at Chfdons by 
three commissioners from the Assembly, under whose charge he 
re-entered Paris on the 25th of June. 

The fiiilui'e of this unhappy attempt was a cruel blow to the 
hopes of the Royalists, and was followed by the gravest conse- 
quences. Louis was now genei-ally i-egarded as having forfeited 
all title to respect and consideration. The Assembly suspended 
him provisionally from his royal functions, and assumed the ex- 
ecutive power ; the ultra-Democrats demanded that he should be 
brought to trial, and clamored openly for the proclamation of a 
republic. The Assembly, however, determined, after an agitating 
debate, that there was no ground for proceeding judicially against 
Louis on account of the flight to Varennes, and tliat therefore he 
should be restored to his throne upon the promulgation of the new 
constitution ; but that, if he should retract his oath of fidelity, or 
repeat the attempt to leave the kingdom, or place himself at the 
head of foreign troops, or permit an invasion of France to be made 
on his behalf, he should be deemed ipso facto to have abdicated, 
and should become amenable to the law like a private citizen. 

This decree enraged the Republican party ; and by the instiga- 
tion of their principal organs, the Jacobin and Cordelier clubs, a 
tumultuous popular demonstration in opposition to it was made 
in the Champ de Mars on the 17th of July. The Assembly, with 



A.D. 1791. THE FEUILLANTS. 543 

an attitude of firm resolution to maintain its own authority, in- 
structed Bailly and Lafayette to take all necessary measures for 
preserving the public tranquillity. On proceeding to the Champ 
de Mars they were received with menacing shouts, showers of 
stones, and other outrages. All remonstrances proving fruitless, 
the mayor proclaimed martial law, and ordered the soldiers to fire 
upon the multitude ; when fifty persons — according to other ac- 
counts several hundreds — fell dead or wounded. Tliis affair en- 
tirely destroyed the popularity of Bailly, and brought both La- 
fayette and the Assembly into suspicion and discredit with the 
Eevolutionists, 

§ 7. The scheme of the remodeled constitution was at length 
complete ; it was presented to the king, who, after several days' 
deliberation, signified his acceptance of it, and, repairing to the 
hall of the Assembly, took an oath to maintain and execute it 
faithfully. Louis was upon this declared to be reinstated in the 
exercise of his regal office ; the president then announced that the 
Constituent National Assembly had terminated its mission, and it 
was accordingly dissolved on the 30th of September, 1791, having 
previously decided that none of its members should be re-eligible 
to the forthcoming legislative body. 

The Legislative Assembly commenced its sittings on the 1st 
of October. It consisted of 745 members, chosen almost exclu- 
sively from the middle class, a lai-ge proportion being provincial 
avocats, men of slender fortune, doubtful character, and little weight 
in the country. Very few of the deputies belonged to the higher 
ranks of society, and altogether the Assembly could not be said to 
represent adequately the intelligence, wealth, or real sentiments 
of France- It was soon found that, notwithstanding the general 
diffusion of revolutionary principles and doctrines, the new Legis- 
lature contained within itself several distinctly marked parties, Avith 
smaller subdivisions. The cote droit was occupied by the Con- 
stitutionalists or Feuillants* who were for some time the prepon- 
derant section, until they lost the command of the municipality 
of Paris, which was wrested from them by their opponents of the 
cote gauche. The Feuillants professed to be satisfied with the 
political changes which had already taken place, and upheld the 
new system as giving sufficient security for popular liberty, while 
it preserved, at the same time, the forms and restraining authori- 
ty of monarchy. The leaders of this party were Mathieu Dumas, 
Ramond, Vaublanc, Girardin, and Lemontey ; it was also joined 
by Barnave, Duport, and Lameth, through whom friendly and 
even confidential relations were kept up with Louis and the court. 

* So called from their club, which Avas held in the convent of the Feuil- 
lants, £1 branch of the Order of St. Bernard. 



544 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

The most powerful adherent of the Feuillants beyond the walls 
of the Assembly was Lafayette. The cote gauche, or party op- 
posed to the Feuillants, consisted of Kevolutionists, more or less 
violent and extreme in their views and purposes. Many of the 
ablest men in the Assembly were ranged on this side ; the most 
conspicuous were Vergniaud, G-uadet, and Gensonne', members for 
the department of the Gironde, from whom the party obtained the 
name of Girondins ; Bi'issot, a man possessed of great eloquence, 
capacity for business, and extensive acquaintance with foreign af- 
fairs ; and Condorcet, a metaphysical Avriter of considerable emi- 
nence. In close connection with the Girondins was a small knot 
of extravagant politicians, whose avowed object was to subvert 
the monarchy and establish a republic ; they were styled la Mon- 
tague {the Mountain), from their occupying the highest rows of 
benches on the extreme left of the hall. These were the dema- 
gogues of the ferocious rabble of Paris, npon whom they relied 
for the execution of their designs. Their power was chiefly ex- 
ercised and maintained by means of the two clubs called the Jac- 
obins and the Cordeliers, the former of which was governed by the 
terrible Maximilian Robespierre, and the latter by Danton, Marat, 
Camille Desmoulins, and Fabre d' Eglantine. 

The Centre of the Assembly was composed of members profess- 
edly moderate and independent in their principles. They acted, 
however, with timidity and vacillation, and soon lost all influence. 
They voted, for the most part, with the Girondins. 

§ 8. The first question which occupied the Legislative Assembly 
was that relating to the emigrants, who had organized a regular 
army on the banks of the Rhine, under the Prince of Conde, and 
were intriguing with ceaseless activity to bring about a counter- 
revolution. After a long and stormy discusrion two decrees were 
passed ; the first enjoining the Count of Provence (afterward Louis 
XVIII.) to return to France within two months, under pain of 
forfeiting his eventual rights to the regency of the kingdom ; the 
second declaring the emigrants in general suspected of conspiring 
against France, and enacting that, if still found assembled in ai'ms 
on the first of January, 1792, they should be punishable with con- 
fiscation and death. To the former of these measures the king 
assented, but upon the latter he imposed his veto. This greatly 
offended and irritated the Assembly ; and, although Louis imme- 
diately afterward issued a proclamation to the emigrants, urging 
them to return, and threatening them with severe treatment in 
case of refusal, his sincerity was loudly called in question, and he 
was denounced as implicated in all the criminal schemes of tlie 
refugees against their country. The next subject which came un- 
der discussion was that of the priests who had refused to take the 



A.D. 1791. KOYAL MEETING AT PILNITZ. 545 

prescribed oath of fidelity to the new constitution ; and here again 
the king and the Assembly came into dii-ect collision. The house 
decreed that the non-juring clergy should be deprived of the scanty 
provision which had been assigned to them in lieu of their confis- 
cated property, and should be placed under the surveillance of the 
authorities. Louis declared that nothing should induce him to 
sanction such an act of persecution, and a second time interposed 
his constitutional veto. 

At the same time the court committed the inconceivable and 
fatal error of affronting and alienating the constitutional party by 
supporting Fe'tion, a zealous Girondist, as candidate for the mayor- 
alty of Paris, in opposition to Lafayette. Lafayette seems never 
to have enjoyed the confidence of the royal family, and was re- 
garded by the queen with peculiar aversion ; she insisted that "he 
wished to ba mayor of Paris only in order to be at the same time 
mayor of the palace." The court accordingly intrigued in every 
way against Lafayette ; Petion gained his election ; and the ene- 
mies of the Constitution and the throne thus acquired the immense 
advantage of directing the civic government of the metropolis. 
The municipal council was now filled with men notoriously 
pledged to the cause of revolution, such as Danton, llobespierre, 
Tallien, and Billaud-Varennes. 

Meanwhile there was another question, which became every 
day more urgently important, and which involved eventually the 
triumph of the Kevolution and the fate of Louis, namely, the re- 
lations between France and the foreign powers, especially the 
states of Germany. The Emperor Leopold and the King of 
Prussia, at a meeting held at Piinitz in August, 1791, had issued 
a declaration announcing that they regarded the situation of the 
King of France as of common interest to all the sovereigns of Eu- 
rope, and appealing to the other powers to support them in an 
armed intervention for the purpose of I'e-establishing the monarch- 
ical government, with all its rights and prerogatives, in the hands 
of Ijoiiis. Troops had consequently been assembled, and Austria, 
Prussia, Piedmont, and Spain assumed a threatening attitude on 
difierent points of the French frontier. A special pretext for hos- 
tilities arose out of the alleged grievances of certain petty German 
princes, who had inherited claims to feudal jurisdiction in the 
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. These obsolete rights had 
been swept away by tlie Kevolution, like every other remnant of 
the mediajval system ; but the proprietors — " princes possessiones"' 
as they were called — now made vehement complaints to the em- 
peror and the German Diet, insisting on complete restitution ; and 
angry communications on the subject were exchanged between the 
courts of Vienna, Berlin, and Paris. At length, upon the death 



54G LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVi. 

of Leopold and the accession of Francis II., the Austrian minister 
Kaunitz dispatched an ultimatum to Paris, demanding that the 
French monarchy should be re-established in conformity with the 
royal declaration of June 23, 1789 ; that the fiefs of Alsace and 
Lorraine should be immediately restored to the dispossessed 
princes, and the county of Venaissin to the Pope ; and that the 
Church of Finance should be replaced in the enjoyment of the whole 
of its confiscated property. This proceeding filled the Legislative 
Assembly with suspicion, resentment, and alarm. The constitu- 
tionalist ministers of Louis — Bertrand de Moleville, Delessart, 
Narbonne, and others — were denounced as having traitorously 
fomented the hostile coalition against France ; the king found 
it impossible to support them against a vote declaring them to 
have forfeited the confidence of the nation ; they resigned abrupt- 
ly, and were succeeded in March, 1792, by a ministry chosen from 
the party of the Girondins — Roland being made minister of the 
interior, Claviere of finance, Servan of war, Duranthon of justice; 
while the portfolio of foreign affairs was given to General Du- 
mouriez, a man of genius, ambition, and great political boldness 
and sagacity, who, had he been placed earlier in a position of lead- 
ing influence, might perhaps have succeeded in averting the down- 
fall of the king and the monarchy. 

The advent of the Girondists to power was the signal for an 
immediate declaration of war. Indeed, after the recent manifesto 
from Vienna, the step had become unavoidable. It was announced 
in person by Louis to the Assembly on the 20th of April, 1792, 
and was received with marks of profound emotion, and general 
acclamations of "Vive le roi." 

Europe was now to enter on a struggle which, whether we con- 
template the momentous magnitude of the interests involved, tho 
permanent results arising from it, or the terrible extent of the 
sufferings and sacrifices it entailed, is altogether without parallel 
in the history of nations. 

§ 9. Three considerable armies covered at this moment the line 
of the French frontier from Belgium to the borders of Switzer- 
land. Forty-eight thousand men under General Rochambeau lay 
between Dunkirk and Philippeville ; the corps of Lafayette, be- 
tween Philippeville and Lauterbourg, amounted to fifty-two thou- 
sand ; Marshal Luckner was at the head of forty-two thousand 
between Lauterbourg and Basle. The first operations, directed 
against the Austrian Netherlands, were unfortunate for the arms 
of France. A column of four thousand men under General Bi- 
ron, marching from Valenciennes upon Mons, dispersed and fled 
in a sudden panic, abandoning their camp to the enemy ; a second 
di\ ision, commanded by General Dillon, also broke their ranks be- 



A.D. 1792. ROLAND'S LETTER TO THE KING. 547 

fore a shot had been fired, and massacred their commander and 
another officer, whom they accused of betraying them to the Aus- 
trians- Paris was violently agitated on the news of these stranoe 
reverses, and bitter recriminations were exchanged among the dif- 
ferent parties, all imputing the disaster to treachery, of which, 
however, no distinct proof could be produced. The Assembly in- 
stantly declared itself en permanence, and adopted three decrees, 
the first of which empowered the departmental authorities to ban- 
ish the refractory priests from France, the second disbanded the 
king's household troops and sent their commandant for trial be- 
fore the high court of Orleans, and the third ordered the estab- 
lisiuTient of a camp of twenty thousand provincial federates in the 
immediate vicinity of Paris. Louis consented to the dismissal of 
his guards, but resolutely placed his veto upon the other two pro- 
posals. The ministers remonstrated, and Roland published a long 
letter which he had addressed to the king, conceived in a tone of 
harsh and insolent menace ;* a rupture ensued between Louis and 
his cabinet ; Roland, Claviere, and Servan were dismissed from 
office on the 12th of June, and Dumouriez, after vainly attempt- 
ing to persuade his majesty to sanction the two decrees, sent in 
his resignation. This was another, and almost the last, of the 
manifold mistakes committed by the feeble-minded and ill-fated 
Louis. He named as successors to the discarded Girondists cer- 
tain obscure members of the Feuillant party, who found them- 
selves utterly powerless in the Assembly, and were loaded with 
abuse, insults, and derision by the populace. He also dispatched 
a secret envoy, Mallet Dupan, with confidential instructions to the 
emigrants and the princes of the coalition, thus identifying his 
cause with those who were regarded by the people as their bitter- 
est enemies. The Feuillants, however, exerted themselves to make 
a stand in defense of the tottering Constitution ; and Lafayette, 
especially, took the bold step of addressing from his camp at Mau- 
beuge a letter to the Legislative Body, denouncing in strong terms 
the iniquitous faction of the Jacobins, and peremptorily demand- 
ing the suppression of this and the other revolutionary clubs. 
This open declaration of war produced an explosion. The Girond- 
ists combined Avith the Jacobins to instigate an insuri'ectionary 
movement of the mob, in order to strike terror into the councils 
of the king and his advisers, and compel their acquiescence in the 
obnoxious decrees. 

On the 20th of June, the anniversary of the memorable oath 
of the Jeu de Paume, the multitude assembled, to the number of 

* Tliis document was composed in reality by his wife, the celebrated Ma- 
dame Roland, wliose influence in the Girondist ministry was equal, if not su- 
perior, to that of any of its ostensible members. 



548 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

twenty thousand, in the Faubourgs St. Antoine and St.MarQeau, 
and, led by the brewer Santerre and the ci-devant Marquess of 
St. Pluruge, proceeded toward the Hall of the Assembly, under 
pretense of presenting a national petition. They Avere armed with 
pikes, clubs, scythes, axes, and other weapons, and carried with 
them various hideous emblems, and banners inscribed with insult- 
ing legends : a bullock's heart on the top of a pike, with the in- 
scription, " Heart of an aristocrat !" " Death to tyrants !" "Down 
with Veto and his wife!" "The Sans-culottes are coming;" 
"Liberty or death!" etc. These ruffianly bands were permitted, 
after some discussion, to appear at the bar of the Assembly, where 
Santerre apostrophized the members in a violent declamation, and 
afterward to defile through the hall, shouting, singing, and produc- 
ing a scene of indescribable confusion. From the Assembly the 
mob proceeded to the Tuileries, whei'e, although the gates were 
closed and locked, no definite orders had been given for defense. 
They entered the square of the Carrousel ; the national guards 
attempted to oppose their progress, but were ordered to desist by 
tlie municipal officers, who had doubtless received previous instruc- 
tions from the mayor, Pe'tion. The doors of the palace were open- 
ed without resistance, and the crowd swarmed up the grand stair- 
case, and penetrated to the presence of Louis, who was surround- 
ed by a few devoted friends and officers of the national guard. 
The king displayed on this trying occasion the most heroic cour- 
age, and never lost for a moment his calm dignity and self-posses- 
sion. A butcher, named Legendre, made himself the spokesman 
of the mob, and demanded, in insolent language, the recall of the 
popular ministers, and the sanction of the deci'ees for the banish- 
ment of the priests and the formation of the camp at Pai'is. 
"This is neither the time nor the place," replied Louis; "I will 
do all that is prescribed by the Constitution." This answer was 
applauded ; and when the king placed on his head the bonnet 
rouge, the symbol of revolutionary liberty, which, was offered to 
him by one of the rioters on the point of a pike, the shouts of ap- 
probation became general. This extraordinary scene lasted for 
upward of two hours ; at the end of which time Petion made his 
tardy appearance, and, after a few words of commendation to the 
people for their conduct, succeeded in persuading them to take 
their departure without committing farther violence. The palace 
was not entirely cleared before ten o'clock at night. 

§ 10. The noble intrepidity which the king and his family had . 
manifested on the 20th of June, and the outrageous treatment to 
which they had been subjected, produced a momentary reaction 
of public feeling in their favor. The Constitutionalists endeavor- 
ed to avail themselves of this to reaain the confidence of the As- 



A.D. 179-2. REBELLION AND ANARCHY. 549 

sembly and overthrow their RepubHcan rivals. Lafayette hasten- 
ed from his camp to Paris, appeared at the bar of the Assembly, 
expressed the indignation felt by all good citizens, and especially 
by the army, at the late disgraceful proceedings, and demanded 
the prompt and signal punishment of those w^ho had instigated 
the rising. His petition was i-eferred to a committee ; but when 
he attempted the farther measure of collecting an armed force to 
attack and overpower the Jacobins, Lafayette totally failed of 
success; not a hundred persons assembled at his summons. Aft- 
er an ineffectual effort to induce the king to try once more the 
chances of an escape from Paris, the general returned, bitterly 
disheartened, to his head-quarters on the frontier ; and he and 
his party thenceforth abandoned Louis to the fate which they now 
saw to be inevitable. 

The tide of rebellion and anarchy had indeed set in with un- 
controllable force. All France was seized with consternation at 
the near prospect of an invasion by eighty thousand foreigners, at 
a moment Avhen internal factions were threatening the outbreak 
of a disastrous civil war, while the government was manifestly 
powerless and disordered, and was more than suspected of being 
secretly in league with the invaders. The Legislative Body, im- 
pelled by the fiery and irresistible eloquence of Vergniaud, pro- 
claimed on the 11th of July that "the country was in danger." 
This was the signal for a general armed rising tlu'oughout France. 
Thousands of volunteers, or fedei'e's, hastened by forced marches 
toward the capital, headed by a battalion enrolled in Marseilles 
and its neighborhood, wliich by its sanguinary deeds acquired a 
terrible reputation in the subsequent course of the Revolution. 
A formidable insurrectionary army was thus marshaled under the 
walls of Paris, implicitly devoted to the Jacobin leaders ; and these 
latter immediately resolved on a decisive onslaught which should 
prostrate the throne of the Bourbons forever in the dust. At this 
moment of intense excitement appeared a most impolitic and of- 
fensive proclamation by the Duke of Brunswick, commander-in- 
chief of the allied armies, in which he summoned all the authox*- 
ities, military and civil, to make an immediate submission to their 
lawful king, declared the whole French nation individually re- 
sponsible for whatever opposition might be made to the invading 
army, and threatened, in case of the smallest outrage being offer- 
ed to the king or his family, to take exemplary and memorable 
vengeance, by delivering up the city of Paris to military execution 
and complete demolition. Upon this the flame of popular indig- 
nation blazed forth with inextinguishable fury. On the 3d of 
August the sections of Paris, with Petion at their head, proceeded 
to the Assembly, and unanimously demanded the deposition of the 



550 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

king. On the Gth the same demand was repeated by a deputation 
of the federes. The Assembly hesitated ; and on the 8th, after a 
debate upon the recent conduct of Lafayette, they resolved, by a 
large majority, against the proposal for arresting and bringing him 
to trial. This exhausted the patience of the insurgents ; they saw 
that the Assembly was not to be trusted, and determined forth- 
with to bring matters to a summary conclusion in their own way. 
During the night between the 9th and 10th of August all the 
members of the commune of Paris were expelled from office, and 
their places filled by commissioners named by the forty-eight sec- 
tions ; the entire municipal authority was thus usurped by the 
leaders of the insurrection. Their arrangements for the attack 
having been made under the eye of Danton, and his accomplices 
Westermann, Santerre, Barbaroux, Desmoulins, and Alexandre, at 
midnight the terrible tocsin pealed throughout the city, and before 
daylight the multitude, well provided with arms and artillery, com- 
menced their fatal march upon the Tuileries. 

§ 11. There had been gathered together, for the defense of the 
palace, a Swiss regiment numbering about nine hundred — an equal 
force of gendarmerie — twenty-five hundred national guards, of 
whom, however, only two battalions could be relied on for fidelity 
— and some four hvmdred noblemen and gentlemen, who claimed 
the privilege of surrounding the person of their sovereign in this 
hour of extreme pei-il. Petion, the mayor, also repaired to the 
Tuileries, but rather in the character of a spy than of a friend ; 
and Mandat, the commandant of the national guard, having re- 
ceived from him authority to repel force by force, disposed his. 
troops to the best advantage in and around the chateau. 

While the attack of the insurgents Avas momentarily expected, 
Mandat was summoned by an order of the municipality to attend 
them at the Hotel de Ville. On arriving, he found himself, to 
his utter dismay, in the hands of the Jacobins and their illegally- 
appointed commune ; he was arrested .and committed for trial, 
but, as he went out, a pistol-shot stretched him dead on the steps 
of the Hotel de Ville. This loss was fatal to the Eoyalists ; the 
troops at the chateau, deprived of their leader, became bewilder- 
ed and disordered ; the king, who, had he possessed the active, 
daring gallantry of men of a diiferent stamp, might in this critical 
moment have restored confidence, manifested a total want of en- 
ergy, and an attempt which he made to review the soldiers in the 
court served only to add to the prevailing discouragement. 

By seven in the morning the rioters had invested the palace in 
overpowering numbers, and fifty, pieces of cannon threatened it 
Avith destruction from the opposite quays of the Seine. The great- 
er part of the national guards now openly passed over to the side 



A.D.1792. THE TENTH OF AUGUST. 55 1 

of the insurgents, and the artillerymen in the Carrousel absolutely 
refused to fire upon the people. It was evident that all was lost ; 
and the king, yielding to the urgent solicitations of Eoederer, pro- 
cureur general of the department, determined to retire from the 
Tuileries with his family, and to seek protection in the hall of the 
Legislative Assembly. It was a desperate step, and equivalent, 
under the circumstances, to an abdication of the throne ; but it 
was probably the only measure that could have secured the life, 
not only of Louis, but of the queen, their children, and their faith- 
ful friends and followers. Escorted by a small band of armed 
gentlemen and national guards, the royal party accordingly cross- 
ed the garden of the Tuileries, and, not without being exposed to 
considerable risk, gained the Salle du Manege, where the Assem- 
bly was sitting. Louis entered with dignity, observing that he 
was come among them in order to prevent the commission of a 
great crime. The president replied that the king might count 
upon the firmness of the National Assembly, which had sworn to 
die in defense of the people and the constituted authorities. The 
royal family were placed in a small box or chamber called the 
logographe, behind the president's chair. They were scarcely seat- 
ed in this place of refuge when a heavy discharge of fire-arms 
from the Tuileries announced that the struggle had commenced 
between the rebels and the brave defenders of the chateau. It 
appears that the Swiss at first showed a disposition to treat with 
the assailants with a view to reconciliation ; meanwhile a cannon- 
shot was fired in the court below, and the Swiss, concluding that 
their post was attacked, replied by a deadly volley from the win- 
dows, which spread consternation amid the rebel forces ; this was 
followed up by a vigorous sally from the chateau, which cleared 
the courts and dispersed the populace in terror on all sides. The 
Swiss remained victorious ; but at this instant they received an 
order from the king to cease firing, to abandon the chateau, and 
to proceed to the hall of the Assembly. In the confusion, the or- 
der was not communicated to the entire regiment; the greater 
part marched out into the garden, but some three hundred re- 
mained in the palace. Meanwhile the multitude rallied, and re- 
turned furiously to the assault ; the remnant of the guards main- 
tained for twenty minutes an heroic but totally useless contest, 
and in the end were cut down and massacred to a man. Numbers 
were slaughtered in the gardens and the adjoining streets ; and 
by eleven o'clocl* the insurrection had achieved a complete tri- 
umph. The conquerors then rushed in tumultuous masses to the 
Assembly, and dictated their own terms to the territied legislators. 
The president, Vergniaud, soon announced their decision ; it de- 
clared that "the chief of the executive power" was provisionally 



552 



LOUIS XVI. 



Chap. XXVI. 



suspended from his functions, and assigned the Luxembourg pal- 
ace as his temporary residence. A national Convention was to 
be named forthwith, to determine the future form of government, 
and secure the sovereignty of the people, and the reign of liberty, 
equality, and fraternity. Thus terminated the celebrated Tenth 
OF August. 

§ 12. The supreme authority Avas now seized by the Jacobin 




The Temple. 

municipality, or commune of Paris, by whom this last decisive act 
of the revolutionary drama had been planned and executed. The 
Assembly became the subservient instrument of Irie commune, and 
was used simply for the purpose of giving a color of legality to 
its tyrannical decrees. The three Girondist ministers, Koland, 



A.D. 1792. ROYAL FAMILY SENT TO THE TEMPLE. 553 

Claviere, and Servan, were immediately recalled ; Danton was 
named minister of justice ; Monge and Lebrun were placed at the 
head of the marine and of foreign affairs. The bloodthirsty Ma- 
rat was appointed president of a committee of " surveillance" or 
" surete gene'rale," which established a terrible system of espion- 
age and domiciliary visitation in Paris, under pretense of prevent- 
ing conspiracies against the state. A special criminal tribunal 
was instituted for the trial of all persons accused of sharing in the 
pretended " conspiracy against the nation" on the 10th of August, 
This court consisted of nine judges ; it proceeded by martial laAv, 
and its decisions were without appeal. The presidency was offer- 
ed to Robespierre, who was now rapidly rising into power ; he, 
however, declined it, as incompatible with his duties as a leading 
member of the commune. Three days after the insurrection the 
dethroned king and his family were consigned, by order of the 
commune, to the gloomy fortress of the Temple, where they re- 
mained prisoners under the custody and personal responsibility of 
the mayor and of Santerre, now commandant of the national 
guard. Their confinement was from the beginning cruelly rigor- 
ous ; they Avere deprived of their ordinary attendants, and for some 
time were even denied communication with each other ; the barest 
necessaries of life were not supplied them without much difficulty; 
and even in their daily walks in the narrow garden of their prison 
they were subjected to the brutal insults and outrages of the mu- 
nicipal guard. 

While these momentous events were passing in the capital, the 
grand army of the allies, numbering one hundred and ten thou- 
sand, with the King of Prussia in person at their head, had enter- 
ed the French territory on the 30th of July, and advanced upon 
Longwy, which fortress was invested on the 20th of August, and 
capitulated three days afterward. The invaders then marched 
upon Verdun, detaching at the same time a corps to form the 
siege of Thionville. The French army, amounting to about nine- 
ty thousand, was disposed in three great divisions, under Luckner, 
Lafayette, and Dumouriez ; the head-quarters of Lafayette were 
at Sc^dan. Three commissioners Avere dispatched to that place by 
the Assembly to give intelligence of the revolution of the 10th of 
August, and secure the adhesion of the troops to the new order 
of things. Lafayette, however, refused to recognize the authority 
of the Assembly, arrested their commissioners, and caused his sol- 
diers to renew their oath of fidelity to the king and the Constitu- 
tion. Upon this the Assembly forthwith declared the general a 
traitor to his country, and decreed his impeachment. The corps 
of Dnmourlez sided with the Kepublicans, and gradually induced 
their comrades to adopt their sentiments; and Lafayette, findinu- 

A A 



554 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

himself abandoned and in personal danger, fled on the 20th of 
August to the camp of the allies, where he was detained as a pi-is- 
oner of war, and was sent eventually to the Austrian fortress of 
Olmutz, where he remained in confinement for five years. Du- 
mouriez was now appointed to replace Lafayette in the chief com- 
mand, and soon justified the confidence reposed in him by a mas- 
terly defense of the French frontier, which led to the entire dis- 
comfiture of the invaders. 

§ 13. The news of the capture of Longwy, which was shortly 
followed by the surrender of Verdun, was received at Paris with 
universal consternation and dismay. The army was known to be 
divided by faction and defective in discipline ; the generals were 
inexperienced and of doubtful fidelity; an insurrection was on the 
point of breaking out in La Vende'e ; the central government was 
abandoned to frightful anarchy ; Servan and other ministers stated 
plainly that they saw no available means of preventing the Prus- 
sians from marching to Paris, and proposed that the Assembly 
and the authorities should retire behind the Loire. At this crit- 
ical moment Danton rose, and, having warmly combated the proj- 
ect of quitting Paris, declared, with terrible emphasis of voice and 
gesture, that, in order to save the country, " it was necessary to 
strike the Koyalists with terror ;" the phrase was repeated with 
still greater vehemence, and the Assembly immediately separated 
in confusion and alarm. It Avas then that the atrocious resolution 
was taken by the committee of surveillance to arrest and im- 
prison, under the name of suspected persons, all who, for whatev- 
er reason, were considered likely to be hostile to the Kevolution, 
and to exterminate them by a deliberate and organized massacre. 
On the night of the 30th of August all the barriers were closed 
and strictly guarded ; domiciliary visits were made throughout 
the city by the officers of the commune ; three thousand persons 
Avere arrested, and distributed in the various prisons, which were 
all crowded to overflowing. On the Second of Seitemeer the 
tocsin was rung, the generale beat, alarm-guns fired ; a preposter- 
ous, but too successful rumor was set on foot that the Royalists 
were about to attack the prisons and betray the city to the Prus- 
sians ; and under this pretext the hired ruffians of the commune 
rushed upon their prey, and the work of blood began. Twenty- 
four priests, who were being conducted from the Hotel de Ville to 
the Abbaye, were the first victims ; they were all inhumanly butch- 
ered by a band of cutthroats led by the infamous Maillard. The 
assassins next hurried to the chui'ch of the Carmelites, where more 
than two hundred priests were confined ; they were all merciless- 
ly slaughtered. Then returning to the Abbaye, these miscreants 
formed a sort of mock tribunal, in which Maillard assumed the 



A.D. 1792. 



THE MASSACRES AT PARIS. 



office of president; the unhappy captives were summoned from 
their cells one by one, and after a brief examination, wei-e dis- 
missed, almost without exception, with the expressive formula 
" Monsieur h la Force !" At this appointed signal they were thrust 
forcibly through a wicket into the court, where the fiendlike exe- 
cutioners awaited them, and were instantly hewn in pieces. 




Massacres at the Abbaye. 2d of September. 

This horrible jail-delivery continued for four days in succession. 
At the Chatelet, at the Bicetre, at the Conciergerie, at the Salpe- 
triere, at La Force, similar revolting scenes were enacted ; at the 
latter place the beautiful Princess de Lamballe, the confidential 
friend of Marie Antoinette, perished beneath the blows of these 
infuriated monsters, who afterward savagely profaned and mangled 
her remains. The murderers Avere regularly paid for their labor 
by the commune, and Billaud Varennes, one of the magistrates, 
appeared personally among them to applaud their patriotic zeal, 
and assure them that France knew not how to recompense their 
services. At length all the pi-isons were emptied, and the bloody 
torrent ceased to flow. It is impossible to ascertain positively the 
total number of those who wei'e sacrificed in these September mas- 
sacres ; it seems probable that at least two thousand Avere put to 
death in Paris alone, while many more suffered in the provinces, 
at Versailles, Lyons, Reims, Meaux, and Orleans. The Assembly 
maintained during the whole time a pusillanimous silence, coolly 
transacting the most ordinary and even trivial business, and af- 
fecting ignorance of the horrors which were passing almost before 
their eyes. 



55G LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

§ 14. It is a relief to turn to the operations of the military cam- 
paign. After the fall of Verdun, the Duke of Brunswick, instead 
of boldly advancing on the road to Paris, distributed his army 
along the line of the Meuse, and lost ten days in inactivity. This 
gave Dumouriez time to concentrate thirty thousand men, and to 
occupy the defiles of the forest of Argonne, wliich, with admirable 
intuition, he called the Thermopylje of France. He was well sup- 
ported by Generals Kellermann, Dillon, and Beurnonville, and es- 
tablished himself in a strongly-intrenched position at Grandpi'e, 
having collected in his rear every available means of arresting 
tlie farther progress of the enemy. On the lltli of September the 
French were vigorously assailed on several points, but the attacks 
were decisively repulsed. On the 13th, however, the position of 
the Croix-anx-bois Avas forced by the Austrians, and the situation 
of Dumouriez, attacked in front by forty thousand Prussians, while 
the Austrians menaced him in tlank, became extremely critical. 
On the 16th he decamped from Grandpre, but, instead of falling 
back upon Chalons, he ascended the River Aisne, and took post 
at Ste. Me'nehould. In consequence of this movement, the road to 
Chidons and Paris now lay open to the Prussians ; of this, how- 
ever, they took no advantage, but advanced toward the French po- 
sition, and on the 20th an action took place with the corps com- 
manded by Kellermann at Vai>my, which was confined chiefly to 
a cannonade, the loss on both sides being about equal. An at- 
tempted charge, however, of the Prussians was met by the French 
Avith so much steadiness and gallantry, that the Duke of Bruns- 
wick countermanded the movement, and the engagement ceased. 
The Prussian general now made overtures for negotiation, but re- 
ceived for answer from the Convention (which opened its sittings 
on the day after the victory at Valmy) that " the French Eepub- 
lic could listen to no propositions vmtil the Prussian forces had 
entirely evacuated the French territory." The duke, whose army 
was in a deplorable condition, and greatly I'educed by disease and 
scarcity of provisions, gave orders for a retreat on the 30th of 
September. Dumouriez, who was suspected on this occasion of a 
treacherous understanding with the enemy, permitted them to 
traverse the dangerous passes of the Argonne without molesta- 
tion. They restored Longwy and Verdun, recrossed the frontier, 
and reached Coblenz toward the end of October, having sacrificed 
in this ill-conducted and inglorious expedition neai'ly thirty thou- 
sand men. 

Meanwhile General Montesquieu, with twenty thousand men, 
had invaded Savoy, where he met with an enthusiastic reception ; 
another corps, under General Anselme, took possession of the coun- 
ty of Kice; General Custinc seized without opposition the cities 



A.D. 1792. THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. 55*^ 

of Worms, Spires, and Mayence ; and tlie imperial forces in tlie 
Netherlands, having bombarded Lille, retired hastily across the 
frontier on the news that the victorious Dumouriez was in full 
march against them. These rapid successes highly elated the lie- 
publican dictators at Paris, restored the confidence and courage of 
the nation, and inspired Europe with astonishment and admiration. 

Dumouriez, having obtained the consent of the ministers to a 
plan of offensive operations against Austria, now undertook the 
conquest of Belgium. Pie marched from Valenciennes upon Mons 
on the 23d of October, and, finding the Austrians, under General 
Clairfait, strongly posted on the wooded heights near the village 
of JicMMAPES, he attacked them on the 6th of November. U'he 
combat was stern and bloody, upward of two thousand being slain 
on each side ; but the position of the Austrians was triumphantly 
carried, and they made a precipitate retreat toward Brussels. The 
submission of the whole of the Netherlands was the fruit of the 
victory of Jemmapes. Dumouriez took possession of Brussels on 
the 14th of November, amid general acclamations, and the Bel- 
gians immediately renounced the dominion of the emperor and 
proclaitned a republic. The lievolutionists of Paris now gave way 
to transports of joy and self-congratulation. On the 19th of No- 
vember the Convention published a vainglorious decree, proffer- 
ing fraternity and succor to all nations of the world who might 
desire to recover their liberty ; and a few weeks later it was re- 
solved that, wherever French generals might carry the arms of 
the republic, they should forthwith proclaim the sovereignty of 
the people, the abolition of the ancient system, the confiscation of 
the property of priests and nobles, and the appointment of new 
officers for the civil and municipal administration. In such a 
style of insolent arrogance did revolutionized France defy the le- 
gitimate thrones of Europe. 

§ 15. The National Convention met for the first time on the 
21st of September, 1792. Its members were exclusively of Ee- 
publican sentiments, but it contained, nevertheless, two bitterly 
hostile parlies — the Girondists, who now occupied the cote droit, 
and tlie Montague, who formed the cote' gauche, and were the or- 
gan of the commune, the Jacobin club, the sections, and the Par- 
isian rabble. Between these two lay, as usual, the neutral party 
of the Centre, which was now styled La Plaine or Le Marais ; 
tliey voted sometimes with the Girondins, sometimes with their 
opponents ; but, being destitute of any independent firmness or 
vigor, found themselves unable in decisive moments to prevent the 
defeat of the former or to restrain the outrageous and infamous 
excesses of the latter. On the first day of its session the Conven- 
tion resolved by acclamation, on the motion of Collot d'Herbois, 



558 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

that "royalty was abolished in France," and that from that day 
should be dated the year One of the French Republic. A decree 
of perpetual banishment was passed against the emigrants, who 
were to be punishable with death if they re-entered France or were 
taken with arms in their hands. The usual titles of courtesy. 
Monsieur and Madame, were now suppressed, and replaced by 
citoyen and citoyenne ; tu and toi were also substituted for vous. 

The fierce antagonism between the Girondists and tlie Mon- 
tagnards became apparent from the earliest days of the Conven- 
tion. But the great occasion of conflict between the rival jaarties 
was the question of the trial of the deposed king. Much discus- 
sion took place upon the preliminary points whether Louis (whose 
person was declared inviolable by the constitution) could be tried 
at all ; and again, if tried, before Avhat tribunal should the cause 
be brought*? The report of the committee, presented on the 7th 
of November, recommended that the king should be tried at the 
bar of the Convention itself, and that his fate should be determ- 
ined by the votes of the whole body, taken separately and deliv- 
ered aloud. To this the Girondists, who were desirous of saving 
the king's life, but lacked the honesty and courage to avo^v their 
real sentiments, assented, intending, without doubt, in case of a 
condemnation, to sentence Louis, not to capital punishment, but 
to imprisonment or exile. It was at this moment that Eoland, 
minister of the interior, received information of a mysterious iron 
chest, which had been secreted behind a panel in the king's bed- 
chamber at the Tuileries. The chest was discovered in the spot 
indicated, and Roland took possession of all the papers it contain- 
ed, which Avere said to afford ample proof of the king's culpable 
correspondence with the emigrants and foreign enemies of France, 
and of all the intrigues in which he had engaged to promote a 
counter-revolution. It was upon the evidence thus obtained, in 
great measure, that the indictment against Louis was framed. 
This document was presented to the Convention on the 10th of 
December, and it was ordei'ed that the king should be brought to 
the bar on the following day. 

§ IG. On the 11th of December the unfortunate prince accord- 
ingly appeared before this self-constituted tribunal, where he con- 
ducted himself with an unmoved calmness, self-possession, and 
resignation which touched the hearts of many of his judges, and 
produced a considerable impression in his favor. Barrere, the 
president, addressing him as Louis Capet, proceeded to read the 
long catalogue of imputed crimes by which the king had at- 
tempted to "establish his tyranny by destroying the liberty of the 
French people." The charges related chiefly to his negotiations 
with foreign powers Avitli a view to the invasion of France, the 



A.D. 1702. TRIAL OF THE KING. 5.59 

•liight to Varennes and the ai-rangements which preceded it, various 
instances of resistance to the popular will, and refusal of his sanc- 
tion to the decrees of the Legislature, and, above all, to the blood- 
slied of the 10th of August, which, by an outrageous perversion 
of truth and justice, was alleged to have been caused by his or- 
ders. Louis replied to the lengthened interrogatory with great 
patience and temper. Some of the charges he absolutely denied, 
disclaiming especially all knowledge of the iron chest and its con- 
tents ; others he refuted by observing that no law existed at the 
time to prevent his acting as he did ; and others, again, by throw- 
ing the responsibility on his ministers, and on the Assembly it- 
self. The accusation of having shed the blood of the people on 
the 10th of August he repelled with some energy, by saying that 
as one of the constituted authorities he had a perfect right to de- 
fend the Tuileries against attack, but that he had not even done 
this ; on the contrary, he had voluntarily quitted the palace to 
take refuge in the bosom of the Assembly. The examination be- 
ing at length concluded, the king was remanded to the Temple, 
and from this time was refused all communication Avith his fami- 
ly. Lie obtained permission, however, to name advocates to con- 
duct his defense, and selected two eminent lawyers, Tronchet and 
Target ; the latter declined the office, and his place Avas instantly 
supplied by Lamoignon-Malesherbes, one of the most distinguish- 
ed of the former ministers of Louis, who eagerly volunteered his 
services. To these was afterward added a young barrister of 
brilliant talent named Deseze. These courageous men fulfilled 
with the utmost zeal, ability, and devotion the honorable but per- 
ilous duty assigned to them. 

Louis appeared before the Convention for the second and last 
time on the 26 th of December. The speech of Deseze in his de- 
fense was a masterpiece of argument and oratory, demonstrating 
that the charges relating to the period before the king's accept- 
ance of the constitution were answered by the very fact of that 
acceptance, while the declared inviolability of his person shielded 
him from judicial censure for whatever had occurred since that 
date. But the appeal was wholly useless, for it fell upon the 
eare of judges who had long before resolved upon their sentence. 
As soon as Louis withdrew, the Chamber became a scene of ex- 
traordinary agitation and tumult, and the rancor of the difierent 
factions was several times on the point of breaking out into actual 
violence. The Girondists endeavored to compound Avith their 
consciences by proposing to submit the question of the king's guilt 
or innocence to the judgment of the people; that so either the 
responsibility of shedding his blood, or, in the contrary case, the 
r<jproach of showing mercy to the tyrant, might rest upon the na- 



560 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

tion at lai'ge. This expedient, like all weak and cowardly com- 
promises, proved a total failure, and afterward recoiled Avith ter- 
rible and fatal vengeance on its authors. The opposite party ex- 
posed with powerful elFect the inevitable tendency of an appeal to 
the people to stir up furious animosities throughout France, and 
produce a civil war ; nor did they forget to taunt the Girondists 
bitterly with this manifest proof of their complicity with the fallen 
monarch. The appeal was earnestly advocated by Vergniaud in 
one of his most magnificent orations ; but the real purpose and 
pusillanimous dishonesty of the Girondists was so completely laid 
open by succeeding speakers, that his eloquence had no effect, and 
the house debated and adjourned day after day without arriving at 
any decision. 

§ 17. At last, on the 14th of January, 1793, the Parisian pop- 
ulace gave symptoms of losing patience, and tumultuously sur- 
rounded the hall of the Convention, vociferating "Death to the 
tyrant !" "Death to him or to us !" Under the pressure of this 
fierce intimidation, it was resolved to proceed immediately to the 
cijipel nominal on the three following questions : 1. Is Louis Capet 
guilty of having conspired against the liberty of the nation and the 
general safety of the state ? 2, Shall the sentence be submitted 
to the sanction and ratification of the people ? 3. What shall be 
the penalty iiflicted ? The firr t of these questions was decided in 
the affirmative by a house of seven hundred and twenty-one mem- 
bers present, with only thii'ty-five dissentients. On the second, 
two hundred and eighty votes were recorded in favor of appealing 
to the people, while four hundred and twenty-five voices pro- 
nounced against it. The third and most momentous decision was 
taken on'the ICth of January. The voting commenced at eight 
in the evening, and continued through the night, amid the most 
intense anxiety and excitement. When the result of the scrutiny 
was announced, it was found that three hundred and thirty-four 
members had voted for imprisonment, banishment, or death with 
respite {sursis) or other conditions, while three hundred and eighty- 
seven had voted for death without any condition or restriction. 
Among the latter were many of the timid vacillating Girondists, 
including Vergniaud, whose vote caused general astonishment. 
The notorious Duke of Orleans, who sat in the Convention tinder 
tlie name of Philip Egalite, also gave his voice, amid a murmur 
of universal horror, for the sacrifice of Eis royal relative. 

Two more days were consumed in debates on the correctness 
of the scrutiny and on the question of sursis. It was not till three 
in the morning of the 20th that the final decision was declared, 
by a majority of three hundred and eighty against three hundred 
and ten, that thei-e should be no suspension ; upon which the min- 



A.D. 1793. 



EXECUTION OF THE KING. 



561 



istei's were ordered to see the sentence executed within twenty- 
four hours. 

Louis received the announcement of his fate with perfect cahn- 
ness. He forwarded a letter to the Convention, containing three 
requests : that a delay of three days might be granted him to pre- 
pare for death ; that he might be allowed the attendance of a con- 




fessor of his own choice; and that he might see his wife and fam- 
ily without witnesses. The first of these demands was refused ; 
the two latter were granted. The Abbe Edgeworth de Firmont, 
the priest designated by the king, was immediately sent for, and 
Louis received from him the last riies and consolations of reli'-ion 

A A 2 



562 LOUIS XVI. Chap. XXVI. 

Avith profound devotion. The parting scene with his family, by 
whom he was tenderly beloved, was of the most affecting and 
heart-rending nature. The king afterward slept peacefully for 
several hours. About ten in the morning on the 21st of Janu- 
ary, 1793, he was conveyed in a carriage, guarded by Santerre and 
a band of municipal otiicers and gendarmes, from the Temple to 
the Place de la Revolution, formerly Place Louis XV., in the cen- 
tre of which the guillotine had been erected. Pie mounted the 
scatfbld with tirniness, and addressed a few words to the vast as- 
sembled multitude, declaring that he died innocent of the crimes 
imputed to him, that he pardoned the authors of his death, and 
prayed that his blood might cement the happiness of France. 
Santerre brutally interrupted him by waving his sword and or- 
dering the drums to beat ; upon which the executioners seized the 
king, and dragged him under the instrument of death. The fatal 
stroke instantaneously severed his head from his body. The chief 
executioner held up the bleeding head to show it to the people, 
who rent the air with prolonged shouts of "Vive la Republique! 
Vive la nation ! Vive la liberte !" The remains of Louis wei-e 
carelessly interred in the cemetery of the Madeleine, and a quan- 
tity of ^piick-lime was thrown into the grave. This ill-starred 
prince was only in the thirty-ninth year of his age at the time of 
ins death ; his reign had lasted nearly nineteen years. He left 
two children — Louis Charles, a boy of eight years old, Avho nom- 
inally succeeded his father as Louis XVIL, and Marie Tlii^rese, 
afterward Duchess of Angouleme. 




lustallatioii of the Directory on tlue 13tli of ISrunmire, ye'\r II!. (.-ith of .November, 171)5). 
From an engraviair of the time. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

■' THE REPUBLIC. A.D. 1793-1799. 

§ 1. War again.st Great Britain, Holland, Spain, Russia, and Austria; Trea- 
son of Dumouriez. § 2. Fall of the Girondists. § 3. Insurrection in La 
Vendee and other Parts ; IJeduction of Lyons and Toulon. § 4. Reign of 
Terror. § 5. Death of Hebert and Danton. § 6. Dictatorship of Robes- 
pierre. § 7. His Death. § 8. Trial and Punishment of the Terrorists; 
Jacobin Attacks on the Convention ; final Defeat of the Montagnards. 
§9. Military Operations ; Battle of Fleur us; French occupy Brussels'; the 
Austrians driven across the Rhine ; French Successes in Piedmont and in 
the North of Spain ; Conquest of Holland by Pichegru ; Peace signed vrith 
Prussia and Spain ; Death of Louis XVII. § 1 0. Expedition to Quibe- 
ron ; Defeat and Execution of the Chouans ; Conclusion of the War in La 
Vende'e. § 11. Political Changes; Constitution of the Year HI. ; Revolt 
of the Sections; Installation of the Directory. § 12. Financial Difficul- 
ties; Suppression of the Assignats ; Mandats Territoriaux. § 13. Napo- 
leon Bonaparte ; his Marriage, and Appointment to Command the Army 
of Italy ; his Campaign in Piedmont ; Peace signed with Sardinia. § 14. 
Battle of Lodi ; the French enter Milan ; Relations of Bonaparte with the 
Directory ; Siege of Mantua ; Armistice with the Pope and the Grand- 
Duke of Tuscany. § 15. Bonaparte's Campaign in Lombardy against 
Marshal Wurmser; Operations of Jourdan and Moreau in Bavaria; Re- 
treat of Moreau through the Black Forest. § 16. Bonaparte's Campaign 
against Marshal Alvinzi ; Battle of Arcole. § 17. Battle of Rivoli ; Fall 
of Mantua ; Bonaparte overruns the Territories of the Pope. § 18. Bona- 
parte carries tlie AVar into Austria; Armistice ofLeoben; Fall of the Ve- 
netian Re]mblic. § 19. Internal Disorder of France; Dissensions in the 



5G4 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

Dii'ectory; Coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor. § 20. Treaty of Campo 
Pormio ; Return of Bonaparte to Paris ; proposed Invasion of England. 
§ 21. The Egyptian Expedition; Battle of the Pyramids; Battle of the 
Nile; the French invade Syria. § 22. Siege of St. Jean d'Acre; Battle 
of Mount Tabor; the French Retreat into Egypt; Battle of Aboukir; Bo- 
naparte returns to France. § 23. Misgovernment and Unpopularity of the 
Directory ; wretched State of the Finances ; the 22d Flore'al ; Suvvarrow"s 
Campaign in North Italy ; Successful Campaign of Massena in Switzei- 
land ; Expedition of the English to the Helder. § 24. Cabals against the 
Directory ; the 30th Prairial ; Intrigues of Sieyes ; Coalition between 
Sieyes and Bonaparte. § 25. Revolution of the 18th and 19th Brumaire ; 
Overthrow of the Directory ; Sieyes, Bonaparte, and Roger Ducos ap- 
pointed Consuls. 

§ 1. The news of the execution of Louis XVI. was received in 
France with awe and terror, and excited throughout Europe an 
outcry of grief and indignation. Apart from its scandalous in- 
justice and cruelty, the crime was regarded, both at home and 
abroad, as an act of hostile defiance launched against all thrones 
and all established governments ; it placed France in a position 
of universal aggression and antagonism. "There is no going back 
now," exclaimed Marat : " we must either prevail or perish !" and 
the army sent a deputation to thank the Convention for having 
reduced them to the necessity of conquering. Louis XVIL was 
proclaimed by the emigrant army of the Prince of Conde, and the 
Count of Provence assumed the title of regent. A formal rupture 
ensued almost immediately between the republic and the great 
powers of Europe. M. de Chauvelin, the French envoy in Lon- 
don, was ordered to leave the kingdom within eight days ; and on 
the 1st of February, 1793, the Convention, after a brief debate, 
unanimously declared war against Great Britain and the States- 
General of Holland. A similar announcement followed against 
Spain. The Empress of Russia ordered all Frenchmen to quit her 
dominions within twenty days ; and Austria, placing the Pi'ince 
of Saxe-Coburg at the head of her forces, assumed the offensive 
on the line of the Meuse. Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland 
were the only states with Avhich the republic maintained peaceful 
relations. 

Dumouriez, whom we left victorious in the Austrian Nether- 
lands, made a rapid visit to Paris while the Convention were de- 
liberating on the fate of the unhappy Louis, and exerted himself 
actively, both by intrigue and menace, to a,vert the bloody catas- 
trophe. Becoming soon convinced of the hopelessness of the at- 
tempt, he returned to his head-quarters, and was soon afterward 
ordered by the Convention to mai'ch against the Austrians under 
the Prince of Coburo;. Li a battle fought at Neerwinden on the 



A.D. 1793. PROCEEDINGS OF DUMOUPJEZ. 5G5 

18th of Marcli, Dumouriez was totally defeated with a loss of 
four thousand men. Disgusted by his ill fortune, and knowing 
himself to be an object of suspicion and mortal enmity to the dom- 
inant party at Paris, he took the desperate step of entering into a 
treaty with the Austrian generals for the purpose of overthrow- 
ing the republic and restoring the constitutional monarchy. It is 
supposed to have been his intention to place on the throne the 
young Duke of Chartres, eldest son of the Duke of Orleans (aft- 
erward King of the French as Louis Philippe), who had fought 
under him with distinguished gallantry in both his campaigns. 
An armistice was concluded, and the P>ench army retired unmo- 
lested to the frontier. But meanwhile intelligence of the treason- 
able projects of Dumouriez had been secretly conveyed to Paris ; 
the Convention immediately passed a decree summoning him to 
appear at their bar to answer for his conduct, and transmitted the 
order to the camp by the hands of Beurnonville, minister of war, 
and four other commissioners. Dumouriez flatly refused obedi- 
ence, arrested the commissioners, and sent them under a guard to 
the head-quarters of the Austrians at Tournay. He then issued 
a pi'oclamation to his army, exhorting them to follow him in a 
march to Paris, to deliver France from the sanguinary tyranny 
of the Convention. His troops, however, abandoned liim ; and 
Dumouriez, with the Duke of Chartres and the rest of his staff, 
took refuge in the camp of the Imperialists. Dumouriez was never 
afterward permitted to return to France. He resided chiefly in 
England, where he died at an advanced age in 1823. 

§ 2. The inevitable and immediate result of the murder of Louis 
XVI. was to hurry on to its crisis the internecine strife between 
the Girondists and the Jacobins. One of the first great measures 
carried against the former was the establishment, on the lOtli of 
March, 1793, of the Revolutionary Tribunal — the most execrable 
engine of lawless oppression and cruelty that ever disgraced a civ- 
ilized nation. This was followed by the appointment, on the 27th 
of May, of the terrible " Committee of Public Safety"' {Comite da 
Sahit Public), which consisted of nine members, Barrere and Dan- 
ton being the most influential. This committee, whose delibera- 
tions Avere secret, was empowered to take whatever measures 
might appear necessary to the welfare of the republic, both in- 
ternal and external. It controlled the proceedings of the minis- 
ters, acted with supreme independent authority in matters of ur- 
gency, and made a report every week to the Convention. 

On the 2d of June the Tuileries were completely surrounded 
by an armed multitude of eighty thousand men, with a formidable 
park of artillery commanded by Henriot ; and the commune re- 
quired from the affrighted deputies an immediate decree for the 



5QQ 



THE REPUBLIC. 



CiiAP. XXVII. 



arrest of the Girondist members. They at finst refused compli- 
ance, but were at length compelled to vote at the point of the bay- 
onet the arrest of thirty-two Girondist members, including Bris- 
sot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonne, Petion, and all the celebrated 
names of the party. Such was the fall of the Girondists — a mem- 
orable and righteous retribution for their cowardly abandonment 
of the king. 

§ 3. Many of the expelled deputies made their escape from Paris, 
and repaired to Caen, where they placed themselves at the head of 
an insurrectionary movement of the western departments against 
the Convention. A rival administration was formed, and regular 
communication established Avith the disaffected in other parts of 
France, especially at Bordeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, and Toulon ; 
armed levies were made, and very general symptoms appeared of 
the outbreak of civil war. It was now that a young woman be- 
longing to an ancient but decayed family, Charlotte Coi'day, an 
enthusiastic admirer of the Girondists, set out from Caen to Paris, 
■and, having obtained an interview with the sanguinary Marat 
under pretense of giving him information about the progress of 
the revolt, stabbed him to the heart as he lay in his bath. She 




House iu wliich (Jhailoite iJorduy was born, at Koncerac, departement de VOrne. 

was instantly arrested, glorying in her deed ; and having been 
condemned by the Kevolutionary Tribunal, suffered with extraor- 
dinary fortitude and courage on the loth of July. 

A formidable insurrection, but of a different character, had 
broken out in the province of La Vendee. The population of 



A.D. 1793. INSUKKECTION IN LA VENDEE. 567 

this district were remarkable for their ardent and devoted attach- 
ment to the throne, the aristocracy, and the ancient constitution 
of France. The murder of the king, and a subsequent decree of 
the Convention ordering a compulsory levy of three hundred thou- 
sand men, drove this loyal and high-spirited peasantry into open 
revolt. They chose for their leaders several noblemen and gen- 
tlemen of high local reputation — La Rochejacquelein, Lescure, 
D'Elbee, Bonchamps, Charette — together with others of their oAvn 
class, Cathelineau and Stofflet ; and within two months made 
themselves completely masters of that part of the country, having 
repeatedly defeated the Republican generals, and driven them be- 
yond the Loire. Fresh forces were sent against them, and after a 
lierce and gallant struggle the insurrection was crushed by the end 
of the year, though Charette and Stofflet continued to carry on a 
desultory warfare among the marshes of Lower Brittany. 

The city of Lyons made a determined and proti-acted resistance 
to the Convention. SuiTounded by an army of sixty thousan;! 
men under Kellermann, it sustained heroically the horrors ci' a 
two months' siege, and only surrendered when reduced to the lat^t 
extremity. Three commissioners — Couthon, Fouche, and CoUot 
d'Herbois — were then dispatched from Paris, and wreaked on the 
devoted city a vengeance of tmparalleled atrocity. Near two 
thousand of the inhabitants perished by the sentence of a revolu- 
tionary tribunal. The ordinary method of the guillotine was 
found insufficient to dispatch the victims ; they were brought out 
in batches to the Place des Brotteaux, and mowed down by re- 
peated discharges of musketry and cannon. All the public edi- 
fices, and many of the handsomest private dwellings, were totally 
demolished ; and a monument was erected among the ruins, with 
the inscription, "Lyons made war against liberty — Lyons is no 
more." It was ordered that the town should bear thenceforth 
the name of " la Commune affranchie."' 

Toulon, where the population was decidedly Eoyalist, called in 
the assistance of the fleet under Admiral Hood, and the town was 
occupied by a British garrison. A regular siege was soon com- 
menced ; and it was on this occasion that the talents of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, then a young officer serving under General Dugom- 
mier as commandant of artillery, were first brought into prominent 
notice. The victory of the republic was entirely the result of his 
sagacious and scientific dispositions. The British troops evacu- 
ated Toulon on the 19th of December, and escaped on board the 
fleet, carrying Avith them several thousands of French refugees. 

§ 4. After the downfall of the Girondists the Jacobins were 
driven by the necessities of their position to establish a system of 
sanguinary despotism, to which no parallel can be found in the 



568 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVIL 

whole stream of liistoiy, and which has consigned their name 
to the everlasting abhorrence of mankind. Their reign Avill be 
known to the remotest ages as the Reign of Terkor. 

llOBESPiERRE was chosen a member of the Committee of Pub- 
lic Safety in July, 1793, and from that moment its proceedings 
were marked by a degree of firmness, activity, and systematic vig- 
01', which, if displayed in a good cause, would have been Avorthy 
of high commendation. The principal colleagues of Kobespierre 
in this terrible secret conclave were Barrere, Carnot (who directed 
all military operations), Couthon (who presided over the police), 
Herault de Sechelles, St. Just, and Billaud-Varennes. They com- 
menced by proclaiming a new and hastily framed constitution, of 
an absurdly democratic and impracticable character, which was 
inaugurated at a national fete, with pagan and atheistical ceremo- 
nies, on the 10th of August. Next followed a decree for a levy 
en masse of all citizens capable of bearing arms ; another for a 
forced loan amounting to nearly one year's revenue ; another ex- 
torting from all landowners and farmers a contribution of two- 
tliirds of their produce in grain for the consumption of the army ; 
another imposing a maximum — that is, a fixed arbitrary price 
above Avhich no provisions could be sold — upon bread, meat, wine, 
salt, wood, and other articles. A farther measure— the famous 
"loi des suspects" — placed the liberty and property of the Avhole 
population of France at the uncontrolled disposal of the govern- 
jiient, and soon filled the prisons with upAvard of two hundred 
thousand miserable captives. 

The executive administration of the dreaded Decemvirate Avas 
of the most ferocious and relentless character. 'Jhe Eevolution- 
ary Tribunal Avas brought into constant requisition, and the scaf- 
folds soon reeked with the blood of victims of all classes, ages, and 
conditions, immolated for the all-comprehensive crime of hostil- 
ity to the republic. The first remarkable personage condemned 
Avas General Custine, Avho suffered for his defeat at Mayence and 
for the fall of Valenciennes. The unfortunate queen, Marie An- 
toinette, Avas next sacrificed ; she Avas charged Avith having exer- 
cised a ci'iminal influence OA'er her husband, with having wasted 
the public treasure, Avith having instigated the foreign invasion ; 
she died Avith touching serenity and magnanimity on the 16th of 
October, 1793. Then followed the trial of tAventy-one of the pro- 
scribed Girondist deputies. They defended themselves AA'ith great 
address, boldness, and eloquence ; and the court, after sitting for 
four days, shoAved, for the first time, symptoms of embarrassment 
and hesitation. A resolution Avas forthwith passed in the Con- 
vention, authorizing the jury, Avhen three days had been spent in 
the iuA^cstigation of a case, to declare themselves satisfied, Avifliout 



A.D. 1793. IIEIGN OK TERROK. 569 

waiting for farther pleadings ; this infamous justification was at 
once acted upon, and the Girondists were sentenced to death. 
One of them, Yalaze, committed suicide in the court ; the rest 
met their fate by the guillotine on the 31st of October, displaying 
in their last moments great resolution and intrepidity. On their 
way to the scatFold they chanted in chorus the famous Marseillaise 
Hymn. 

The despicable Egalite, duke of Orleans, Avas executed on the 
6tli of November. His long career of wickedness, and especially 
his baseness in voting the death of Louis, had deprived him of all 
sympathy, and his head fell amid the savage imprecations of the 
multitude. The enthusiastic and noble-hearted Madame Roland 
was led to the scaffold a few days afterward. On passing before 
the statue of Liberty which was erected at the Place de la Re'vo- 
lution, she apostrophized it in the memorable words, "O Liberty! 
what crimes are committed in thy name!" Pier husband, who 
with her aid had escaped the fatal decree of proscription on the 
31st of May, deliberately stabbed himself on receiving the tidings 
of her death. The executions continued in rapid succession. 
Bailly, the ex-mayor of Paris, was guillotined on the Champs de 
Mars, the scene of his unpardonable offense in firing on the peo- 
ple on the 20th of July. Barnave, Duport, Lebrun ; the unsuc- 
cessful generals Houchard, Brunet, and Biron Lauzun ; and the 
notorious Madame du Barry, so long the reigning mistress of 
Louis XV., all suffered in turn imder the fatal knife. 

While these bloody scenes passed in the- capital, the Terrorists 
were executing vengeance in its most hideous and revolting form 
on the wretched survivors of the Vendean insurrection. A revo- 
lutionary tribunal was established at Nantes, under the presidency 
of a miscreant named Carrier, who, not content with the ordinary 
action of the guillotine, racked his hellish invention in discovering 
new methods of wholesale destruction. We need not do more 
than allude to the atrocious noyades, fusillades, and manages re'pnh- 
Ucains of Nantes ; the details are too disgusting to soil our pages. 
The very waters of the Loire became so polluted by these horrors 
that their use was forbidden as injurious to health. Not less than 
fifteen thousand persons are computed to have perished at Nantes 
by Carrier's orders during the three months of October, Novem- 
ber, and December, 1793. 

§ 5. Divisions quickly arose among the Terrorists themselves. 
Robespierre and Danton were moderate in their ideas and decent 
in their conduct compai'ed with the desperate faction of tlie He- 
bertists, who now exercised tlie chief sway over the commune of 
Paris. Hebert and other ultra-Democrats made a furious assault 
on the Christian religion, the very profession of which they de- 



570 THE REPUBLIC. Chap.XXVII. 

termined to root out from France, well knowing it to be the foun- 
dation of all morality and social order. By their instigation a 
petition to this effect was presented to the Convention by Gobel, 
the " constitutional" Bishop of Paris, and his clergy, who publicly 
renounced their belief and functions as ministers of the Catholic 
Church, and declared that henceforth they would recognize no 
public worship but that of liberty, equality, and reason. A de- 
cree was forthwith passed in accordance with this appalling act 
of apostasy. The religion of Jesus Christ was formally proscribed 
and suppressed ; all Christian worship was prohibited ; the God- 
dess of Reason, personated by a well-known figurante from the 
Opera, was impiously enthroned in the very sanctuary of the ca- 
thedral of Notre Dame ; and the meinbers of the Convention, the 
commune, and all the constituted authorities, bowed before her in 
public adoration. Over the entrance to the cemeteries was now 
placed the heathen inscription, "Death is an eternal sleep." The 
churches were desecrated throughout France ; abbeys and relig- 
ious houses were secularized and pillaged ; the very graves of the 
dead were violated ; the remains of the French monarchs were 
sacrilegiously dragged forth from their sepulchres at St. Denis, and 
exposed to the scorn and brutal insults of the multitude. It was 
at this time, too, that the Gregorian Calendar was abolished, and 
replaced by the Revolutionary Era, which commenced from the 
22d of September, 1792. The year was divided into twelve equal 
months of thirty days each, to which were added five intercalary 
days, ridiculously called Sansculottides. The months were fanci- 
fully named from the characteristic features of the different sea- 
sons ; Vende'miaire (vintage month), Brumaire (foggy month), Ni- 
vose, Pluviose, etc. The observance of Sunday being abrogated, 
every tenth day, or decadi, as it was termed, was proclaimed a 
public holiday. These grotesque innovations of the infidel repub- 
lic remained in force, strange to say, till the 1st of January, 1806. 
Robespierre, who seems always to have preserved some senti- 
ments of decency, and in religious matters never went beyond the 
profession of deism, opposed himself vigorously to these outra- 
geous extravagances of the He'bertists. They attempted to organ- 
ize an insurrection of the sections ; but the populace made no 
movement, and the fate of the conspirators Avas sealed. They 
were impeached by St. Just in the Convention on the 13th of 
March, 1794, arraigned before the Revolutionary Tribunal on the 
20th, and, the trial having lasted for three days, were condemned 
to death by virtue of the late regulation permitting the jury to 
declare itself satisfied at the expiration of that time. They were 
executed, to the number of nineteen persons, including Hebert, 
Vincent, Ronsin, and a fanatical Prussian baron named Anachar- 



A.D. 1794. DEATH OF DANTON. 57I 

sis Clootz, on the 24th ; all the gang, with the exception of Ron- 
Fin and Clootz, betraying the most abject weakness and terroi' in 
their last moments. 

The fate of the He'bertists was received with universal joy. It 
was regarded as a proof that Robespierre and his friends had de- 
cidedly espoused the cause of moderation and mercy, and that the 
Reign of Terror was about to terminate. There remained, how- 
ever, between Robespierre and the possession of that absolute, un- 
divided, unlimited empire at which he aimed, the party headed 
by Danton, who had now become thoroughly disgusted with the 
enormities of the Revolution, and earnestly desired to return to a 
more lenient and tranquil system of government. Danton be- 
came, in consequence, an object of mortal suspicion and enmity 
to the merciless dictator. He was repeatedly warned of his dan- 
ger, but replied that his enemies dared not arrest him, and dis- 
dained to fly. His name was still universally feared, and it was 
Avith extreme astonishment that Paris learned, on the 1st of April, 
1794, barely a week after the death of Hebert, that the redoubta- 
ble Danton had been seized in his bed the night before, and, with 
his associates, was a prisoner at the Luxembourg.* 

The Convention, mute with consternation, offered not a shadow 
of opposition. The prisoners — Danton, Camille Desmoulins, 
Fabre d'Eglantine, He'rault de Se'chelle, and others, to the num- 
ber of fifteen — were brought to trial without delay, upon various 
incoherent and impi-obable charges. Danton defended himself 
with lion-like vigor and audacity ; and such was the sympathy 
manifested toward him by .the Parisians, that Robespiei-re and his 
enslaved tribunal were for some time in trepidation as to the re- 
sult. At length, by a skillful manoeuvre, an order was obtained 
from the Convention enjoining the judges to put out of court 
(mettre hors des debats) any prisoners who might fail in respect 
to the tribunal, and to proceed at once to their condemnation. 
This was instantly acted upon ; Danton and his friends were drag- 
ged away from the bar in the midst of their angry declamations, 
and on the Gth of April they all suffered by tlie guillotine. 

§ 6. Having thus pitilessly trampled down all opposition, Robes- 
piex-re reigned for a brief period in sole and undisputed despotism. 
No i-elaxation, however, took place in the accursed system of ter- 
ror; on the contrary, the judicial massacres greatly increased in 
numbers and cruelty, as if the tyrant felt that the continuance of 

* These transactions are understood toliave resulted from a compact made 
1)y Robt'spierre, Couthon, and h't. Just, with Collot d'Hcrbois, Biilaiid-Va- 
rennes, and Barrere, the latter abandoning tlie Hebertists to llobespierre on 
condition tliat he sliould make no opposition to the destruction of the Dan- 
tonists. 



572 '^HE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

liis power depended on his persevering energy in the same detest- 
able measures by which he had attained it. At the same time 
Kobespierre took an early opportunity of repealing those blasphe- 
mous acts which had made the French a nation of professed athe- 
ists. He proclaimed in the Convention that belief in the exist- 
ence of a God was necessary to those principles of virtue and mo- 
rality upon which- the republic was founded ; and on the 7th of 
May the national representatives, who had so lately prosti-ated 
themselves before the Goddess of Reason, voted by acclamation 
that " the P'^rench people acknowledge the existence of the Su- 
preme Being and the immortality of the soul." The " Fete de 
ri^tre Supreme," held soon afterward (June 8), was a theatrical 
exhibition of very questionable taste, in which Kobespierre, as 
president of the Convention, played the part of high-priest, with 
ill-concealed self-exaltation and triumph. At this moment the 
tyrant may be said to have attained the summit of his extraordi- 
nary fortunes ; and, by a strange fatality, it was on this occasion 
that the first seeds were sown of that hostile coalition which in 
the course of a few weeks was to achieve his ruin. Great dissat- 
isfaction was excited by the pre-eminence assumed at the festival 
by Kobespierre over his colleagues. Various threatening hints 
were dropped in his heai-ing : " It is but a step from the Capitol 
to the Tarpeian Kock," said one; "He would accustom the Ke- 
public to adore some one, in order to make himself adored by-and- 
by," exclaimed another. On the 22d Prairial (June 10) resolu- 
tions were presented to the Convention by Couthon for conferring 
increased and monstrous powers on the Kevolutionary Tribunal. 
It was to be divided into four courts, for the more expeditious 
dispatch of business ; the " enemies of the Kepublic," against 
whom it was to act, were defined in the most vague, arbitrary, 
and comprehensive terms ; the juries were empowered to convict 
without examining witnesses or hearing counsel, and upon any 
proof, material or moral, verbal or written, which they might deem 
sufficient ; and the sole penalty to be inflicted for all off'enses was 
death. This frightful proposition, which manifestly placed the 
lives of the whole Convention, and, indeed, of the whole French 
nation, at the absolute disposal of Kobespierre, was vehemently 
combated, but was ultimately adopted. Its effects Avere appalling. 
Between the 10th of June and the 27th of July, 1794, upward of 
fourteen hundred victims perished by the hands of the execution- 
er. The daily batches (fournt'es) frequently included fifty, and 
even sixty, seventy, and eighty individuals. Fouquier-Tinville, 
tlie public accuser, at length proposed to erect the guillotine in a 
hall adjoining the tribunal, and to dispatch five hundred prisonei'S 
in one day. The total number of those sacrificed during the six- 



A.D. 1794. FALL OF ROBESPIERRE. 573 

teen months that the tribunal was in force is ascertained to have 
been two thousand seven hundred in Paris alone. Of the blood- 
shed in the provinces no accurate estimate has ever been formed. 

§ 7. At this crisis Robespierre suddenly absented himself from 
the Committees of Public Safety and of General Security, where 
his enemies, especially CoUot d'PIerbois and Billaud-Varennes, 
had acquired considerable influence, and did not conceal their act- 
ive hatred. A powerful confederacy was gradually formed against 
him in the Convention, headed by Tallien, Fouche, Barras, Bour- 
don, Carnot, and Barrere — able and determined men, all fully 
conscious that the struggle about to commence must be one of 
life and death, since a private list had been discovered in which 
the tyrant doomed them to the guillotine, together with forty of 
their colleagues, on the first opportunity. The conspirators in- 
trigued rapidly and secretly, and determined to bring matters to 
an immediate issue. On the 26th of July the final conflict be- 
gan ; Robespierre suddenly made his appearance in the tribune at 
the Convention, and delivered a vague and tedious, but angry and 
insolent tirade against the two committees, the government func- 
tionaries, and all others who opposed him, denouncing them as 
traitors, calumniators, atheists, profligates, brigands. The house 
heard him without the smallest sympathy ; and the tyrant with- 
drew, disconcerted and humiliated, to the Jacobin club, where 
measures Avere arranged for the mortal strife expected on the 
morrow. 

The 27th of July was the decisive day. A report on Robes- 
pierre's speech, read by St. Just, was tumultuously interrupted by 
Billaud-Varennes and Tallien, who were powerfully supported by 
Collot d'Herbois, the president of the day. ''A chasm deeper 
than the catacombs," cried Billaud, "is dug at your feet, and ei- 
ther you must fill it Avith your dead bodies, or you must hurl 
down Robespierre and his fellow-tyrants." Tallien drew forth a 
daggei', and declared that, if the Convention had not the courage 
to order the arrest of Robespierre, he Avould instantly strike him 
to the heart. Vainly did the doomed man strive to obtain a hear- 
ing. Plis voice was drowned by the indignant shouts which arose 
from all sides of "Down with the tyrant !" "Death to the tri^ 
umvirs!" and in the midst of inconceivable agitation and disorder 
the house voted itself in permanent session, and decreed the arrest 
of Robespierre, Couthon, and St. Just, to whom Lebas and the 
younger Robespierre were added by their own desire. The five 
members were removed to the bar with general acclamations and 
cries of "Vive la Re'publique !" and were soon afterward confined 
separately in different prisons. The ferocious Henriot, command- 
ant of the civic force, was taken into custody at the same time. 



574 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

The cause of Kobespierre, liowever, was not yet utterly lost. 
The commune was instantly in arms, roused the sections, released 
Henriot, sent strong detachments of officers and troops to the five 
prisons, delivered the popular tribunes, and carried them in tri- 
umph to the Hotel de Ville. The Convention acted in this crisis 
Avith determined firmness. They passed a decree of outlawry 
against Robespierre and his four colleagues, Henriot, and the 
Avhole commune of Paris. The greater part of the sections at 
once declared in favor of the national representatives. Barras 
was named to the command of their armed force ; at midnight he 
surrounded the Hotel de Ville with his battalions, and, all resist- 
ance being hopeless, the conspirators surrendered at discretion. 
As the gendarmes approached to seize them, Lebas shot himself 
dead with a pistol, the younger Eobespiei-re leaped from a window 
and fractured his leg, and his elder bi'Other, attempting suicide, 
wounded himself frightfully in the lower jaw. The long file of 
prisoners were conveyed first to one of the committee-rooms at 
the Tuileries, and thence to the Conciergerie. On the 28th of 
July they were all carried before the Revolutionary Tribunal, but 
merely for the formality of being identified, since they were al- 
ready sentenced to death as outlaws. Insults, maledictions, and 
brutal exultation accompanied them to the guillotine ; and as the 
head of Robespierre rolled upon the scafibld, the vast crowd broke 
into a loud, unanimous, and prolonged chorus of acclamation. 

§ 8. The revolution of the Ninth Thekmidor put an end to the 
Reign of Terror, although it by no means appears that such was 
the intention of its authors. Tallien, Fouche, Legendre, and their 
friends were scarcely less bloodthirsty than those whom they had 
overthrown ; but the whole nation saw in the fall of Robespierre 
a reaction against tyranny, and in favor of just and humane gov- 
ernment ; and the force of public opinion produced this as a nec- 
essary result. The Committees of Public Safety and General Se- 
curity were now remodeled, and their power much restrained. 
The prisons Avere visited, and upward of 10,000 detained under 
the infamous "loi des suspects" Avere restored to liberty in the 
capital alone. An outcry for vengeance against the Terrorists 
soon arose among those whose relatives had perished under the 
late fearful system. An association was formed by the young 
men of Paris, to the number of several thousands, chiefly of the 
upper classes, who, under the appellation of " la Jeunesse Doree," 
and wearing a fantastic costume " a la victime," devoted them- 
selves to measures of summary retaliation upon the Jacobins. On 
the 9th of November they made a desperate attack on the hall of 
the Jacobin club ; the windows Avere smashed, the doors forced 
open, and, after a brief contest, the discomfited clubbists Averc 



A.D. 1795. FINAL DEFEAT OF THE MONTAGNARDS. 575 

driven forth from their den of iniquity, and the assailants remain- 
ed victorious. The hall was now closed by order of the Conven- 
tion, and this odious fraternity was soon afterward dissolved, to 
the great joy of the nation. 

Retributive punishment now fell fast upon the accomplices of 
Robespierre. The detestable Carrier was sent before the Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal, and suffered by the guillotine. The same fate 
Avas most deservedly inflicted on Fouquier-Tinville, the heartless 
public prosecutor under the Reign of Terror. 

The Convention proceeded to decree that there was matter of 
accusation against Collot d'Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, Barrere, 
and Vadier, all execrated as having been foremost among the* Ter- 
rorists. They were committed to prison, but were not brought to 
trial till some months later. A resolution was next passed re- 
calling to their seats in the Convention seventy-three members, 
chiefly Girondists, who had been expelled after the 31st of May. 

These reactionary measures, however, were not suffered to pass 
without opposition from the lately rampant, but now vanquished 
faction of the Jacobins. A rigorous winter, exorbitant prices, 
a ruinous depreciation of the assignats, numerous bankruptcies 
which occasioned great misery both in Paris and in the provinces, 
enabled the agitators to stir up once more the elements of insur- 
rection; and on the 1st of April, 1795, the hall of the Conven- 
tion was invaded by a tumultuous mob from the faubourgs, clam- 
oring violently for bread, the constitution of the year II., and the 
liberation of Collot d'Herbois and the other Terrorists. The 
sectional troops, led by the Jeunesse Doree, soon dispersed the 
insurgents, and the danger was at an end. The victorious Ther- 
midorians proceeded forthwith with the trial of Collot d'Herbois 
and his accomplices, who were all convicted and sentenced to 
transportation. 

Another and a more desperate attempt of the same kind was 
made six weeks later, on the 20th of May. The armed rabble 
again surrounded the Tuileries, and burst into the hall of the Con- 
vention. The fighting was partially renewed on the next day, but 
the Convention remained finally victorious. This formidable out- 
break was followed by severe measures of punishment. General 
Menou, at the head of an imposing force, marched upon the fau- 
bourg St. Antoine, and thi'eatened a bombardment unless all arms 
and weapons of offense were immediately delivered up. It was 
useless to resist ; pikes, muskets, and cannon, in large quantities, 
were surrendered, and this strong-hold of the tyranny of the mob 
became comparatively powerless. The Montagnards were now 
tried by a military commission, and six of their leaders were con- 
demned to death. Several moi"e were transported for life ; many 



576 '^HE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

fled into concealment ; and the political influence of the pai-ty was 
from this moment finally crushed. 

§ 9. During this dark period of intestine struggle and convul- 
sion the armies of the republic maintained their ground against 
the European coalition with a gallantry, skill, and persevering res- 
olution which commanded universal admiration. General Jour- 
dan, taking the command of the army of the Sambre and Meuse, 
defeated the allies at Fleurus on the 26th of June, 1794. After 
this victoiy he formed a junction with General Pichegru and the 
army of the north, and the Eepublicans entered Brussels in tri- 
umph on the 9th of July. The Duke of York now retreated 
rapicTly toward Holland, abandoning the whole of Belgium to the 
French. Pichegru' s army encamped on the line of the Meuse, 
and prepared for the invasion of Holland. MeauAvhile Jourdan 
drove back the Austrians toward the Rhine, defeated them with 
great slaughter at Ruremonde, and forced them to retire to the 
German side of the river on the 5th of October. The French 
took possession of Cologne and Coblentz ; Treves submitted to 
their "army of" the Moselle,"' and before the end of October they 
were masters of the entire course of the Rhine from Worms to 
Nimeguen. 

During the same summer the Republican arms achieved con- 
siderable success on the Sardinian and Spanish frontiers. By way 
of counterpoise, however, to these triumphs, it was in this year 
that Lord Howe won his celebrated victory of the 1st of June, off 
the Isle of Ushant, when the French were defeated with a loss of 
seven ships of the line and eight thousand men. 

The army under Pichegru, resuming the offensive in the depth 
of a severe winter, crossed the Meuse on the ice in the last week 
of December, and on the 11th of January, 1795, attacked the En- 
glish and Dutch at Nimeguen, and forced them to a disastrous re- 
treat. The Dutch troops showed symptoms of disaffection, while 
the populace openly welcomed the Republican invader. The stadt- 
holder now fled to England, abandoning Holland to Pichegru, who 
entered Amsterdam in triumph on the 20th of January. The 
English, under General Walmoden, after enduring dreadful suf- 
ferings in their retreat, gained the port of Bremen, where they 
embarked for their own country. Their army had been reduced 
to a mere wreck by privation, disease, desertion, and the sword 
of the enemy. The conquest of Holland, thus accomplished with- 
out fighting a battle, and with very trifling loss, established the 
reputation of Pichegru as one of the foremost generals of the 
Revolution. A democratical form of government was now or- 
ganized in Holland upon the model of Republican France. Ne- 
gotiations were opened about the same time with the King of 



A.D. ir95. DEFEAT OF THE CHOUANS. 577 

Prussia, who had been the first to declare himself in arms against 
the Eevolution ; and peace was signed at Basle on the 5th of 
April, Prussia surrendering to France all her provinces on the 
left bank of the Rhine. A similar treaty was concluded soon aft- 
erward with Spain. That Bourbon monarchy, to preserve some 
appearance of decency, stipulated at first that the two children of 
Louis XVI., still prisoners in the hands of the Convention, should 
be restored to liberty; but, while the discussion was pending, the 
unhappy young prince whom the Royalists styled Louis XVII. 
was released from his miseries by the hand of death. After a 
lingering illness, resulting from the systematic ill usage and bru- 
tality of his jailers, he expired, at the age of eleven, on the 8th of 
June, 1795. This difficulty being removed, Spain signed the terms 
of pacification, by which she fully recognized the French republic, 
and ceded her possessions in the island of St. Domingo in return 
for the restoration of the French conquests in the north of Spain. 
The youthful sister of Louis XVII., afterward Duchess of An- 
gouleme, was now liberated from the Temple, in exchange for the 
Commissioners of the Convention whom Dumouriez had betrayed 
to the Austrians. ■ 

§ 10. The Vendean insurgents, after signing a treaty of peace 
with the Convention in February, 1795, once more assembled in 
arms in the June following, under the leadership of Charette and 
Stofiiet. The Royalists now prevailed upon the British govern- 
ment to aid them by making a descent upon the coast of Brittany. 
Some thousands of French emigrants and prisoners wei-e collected 
in England and the Channel Islands under the Count de Puisaye, 
and transported on board a British fleet to the peninsula of Qui- 
beron, where they effected a landing on the 27th of June, and 
made themselves masters of Fort Penthievre. But the expedi- 
tion was ill planned, and the Chouans, as the Royalists of Brittany 
were called, though brave and ardent, were by no means equal in 
military qualities to the soldiers of La Vendee. General Hoche, 
at the head of a large Republican army, blockaded the invaders 
by throwing up intrenchments across the narrow isthmus Avhich 
joins Quiberon to the main-land. Puisaye totally failed in an 
attempt to break through the enemy's lines ; on the night of the 
20th of July Hoche stormed and recaptured Fort Penthievre ; the 
gallant defendei's struggled desperately to regain the English ves- 
sels, but, the weather being stormy, by far the greater part of them 
perished miserably in the waters. The remainder surrendered to 
Hoche, under a vague and unauthorized promise of quarter. Upon 
a reference to Paris, it was decided that the laws against emigrants 
must take their course ; and near eight hundred of these unfortu- 
nate prisoners were in consequence shot to death at Auray, after 

Bi{ 



578 THE REPUBLIC. Ciiai-. XXVII. 

the form of an examination before a military commission. Char- 
ette retaliated by the wholesale massacre, in cold blood, of upward 
of a thousand Republicans who had fallen into his hands. 

Hoche followed up his success at Quiberon by proceeding to at- 
tack the insurgents of La Vendee, who, weakened and dishearten- 
ed by their manifold reverses, ceased to defend themselves with 
their former skill and vigor. The Count of Artois, who had join- 
ed them, behaved with gross incapacity, and at length abandoned 
them to thoir fate and embarked for England. Stofflet was de- 
feated by Hoche near Bressuire, and, being captured soon after- 
ward, was executed at Angers in February, 1796. His brave 
comrade Charette, having disbanded his troops, was hunted for 
days together through the forests and marshes, and, being at hist 
taken prisoner, was conducted to Nantes, Avhere he was shot on 
the 29th of March. This catastrophe extinguished the memora- 
ble civil war of La Vendee, which is said to have cost the lives of 
no less than one hundred thousand Frenchmen. Harrowing de- 
tails are given of the state of devastation, depopulation, and wretch- 
edness to which the province was reduced in the course of it. 

§ 11. At Paris, meanwhile, the Convention had named a com- 
mittee of eleven members, almost exclusively Girondists, to draw 
up organic laws as the basis of a new constitution. The scheme 
Avhich they proposed was accepted by the Convention on the 22d 
of August, 1795. By the new arrangement the legislative power 
Avas intrusted to two chambers, one of which, called the Council 
of Five Hundred, possessed the sole privilege of initiating laws, 
while the other, the Council of Ancients, had the right of discus- 
sion, and could either accept, the measures presented to it, or re- 
ject them by an absolute veto. The executive authority was to 
reside in a Directory, consisting of five members appointed by 
the two legislative chambers, one director retiring by rotation ev- 
ery year. The Koyalists, who, since the revolution of Thermidor 
and the restoration of the Girondist deputies, had recoveied a cer- 
tain amount of influence in the national councils, strenuously re- 
sisted this proposal, so manifestly designed to perpetuate the pow- 
er of the authors of the Eevolution. Considei-able agitation fol- 
lowed both in Paris and throughout the country. The new con- 
stitution, with its supplementary article relating to the composi- 
tion of the chambers, was submitted to the people in their primary 
assemblies ; several of the Parisian sections, gained over by the 
manoeuvres of tlie Eoyalists, formed a central committee, and made 
preparations for maintaining their opposition by force. In spite 
of this, the proposed arrangements were accepted in the provinces 
by an immense majority, and the successful result of the appeal 
was publicly announced by the Convention on the 23d of Septem- 



A.D. 1795. DAY 01' THE SECTIONS. 579 

ber. The refructory sections, nevertheless, gfive no signs of sub- 
mission, and became more and more menacing. The Convention 
gave the command of the armed force to Barras, who had acquit- 
ted himself with so much resolution in the crisis of the 9th Ther- 
midor. Barras, anxious to obtain as second in command an offi- 
cer in whom he could thoroughly confide, bethought himself of Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, at that time a general of brigade without em- 
p>loyment. Little anticipating the momentous consequences which 
would follow from the step, he intrusted to Bonaparte the direc- 
tion of the military operations against the insurgent sections. 
The young general took his measures with i-apid and skillful de- 
cision ; he planted his cannon upon all the approaches to the Tuil- 
eries, and occupied strongly witli his troops all the neighboring" 
streets, the bridges, and the Place Louis XV. The expected strug- 
gle took place on the 5th of October (13th Vendemiaire), 1795. 
The troops of the sections, numbering between* twenty and thirty 
thousand, advanced against the Convention in two divisions, from 
each side of the Seine. A furious combat ensued in the Hue St. 
Lion ore, where, the sections having established themselves in front 
of the church of St. Koch, Bonaparte opened a murderous fire of 
artillery upon the post, and completely routed the assailants, Avitli 
a loss of some three hundred slain'. He then hastened to the Pont 
Neuf, toward which the second column of the rebels was march- 
ing from the Quartier St. Germain, and, having pointed some 
pieces of artillery so as to command them both in front and flank, 
met them as they came within range with a cannonade which in 
a moment scattered them in all directions. The fighting, which 
did not begin till late in the afternoon, was over in less than an 
hour and a half. The Convention used its victory with modera- 
tion and clemency ; only one of the conspirators was put to death, 
and a few others imprisoned. The important services of Bona- 
parte on the Day ov tjie Sicctions were promptly acknowledged 
and rewarded ; he was appointed second in command of the array 
of the interior, and, upon the retirement of Barras shortly after- 
ward, succeeded to the post of commander-in-chief. The Conven- 
tion, now upon the point of dissolution, decreed a general amnesty 
for political offenses, from which, however, all emigrants and their 
families were expressly excluded. By another decree Belgium 
Avas declared to be incorporated with France. The president noAV 
announced that the mission and labors of the Convention Avere 
terminated ; and this assembly, so fatally memorable in French 
histoi-y, broke up on the 2Gth of October, after a continuous ses- 
sion of three years and tAVO months. The ncAvly-adopted form of 
government came immediately into operation. The Council of 
Five Hundred presented to the Council of Ancients a list of fifty 



580 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

representatives, from which the latter selected five to compose the 
executive Directory. The pei'sons named were La Reveillere-Le- 
paux, Rewbell, Sieyes, Letourneur, and Barras, all stanch Repub- 
licans, who had voted for the death of Louis XVL Sieyes de- 
clined to serve, and was replaced by Carnot. The Directors en- 
tered at once upon their office, Avith a considerable amount of state 
and dignity. The Luxembourg palace was assigned as their resi- 
dence, a military guard suiTounded them for protection, and they 
enjoyed an ample revenue. 

§ 12. The new government, on commencing its labors, found 
the national finances in a state truly alarming and deplorable. 
The treasury w^as empty ; the armies were clamoring in vain for 
long arrears of pay; the dearth of specie became every day more 
and more pressing and universal ; public credit had fallen to the 
lowest ebb ; the assignats, which were still a legal tender, realized 
no more than the tAvo hundredth part of their nominal value. At 
length, after the issue of paper money had reached the almost in- 
credible amount of forty-five thousand millions* (eighteen hund- 
red millions sterling), it was found utterly impossible to maintain 
it in circulation ; the assignats were refused by all classes, from 
the highest to the lowest, throughout France. The government 
now determined to withdraw them, and substituted for them a new 
kind of paper currency, called mandats territoriaux : these mandats 
were charged upon the landed estates belonging to the nation, and 
entitled the holder to a certain specified amount of that property, 
according to the valuation made in the year 1790. The assignats 
were suppi'essed, and the plate used for engraving them broken 
up, in March, 1796. The issue of the mandats Avas an improve- 
ment, since they represented a substantial value in land, for which 
they were exchangeable at any moment ; but after a time they 
also fell into discredit, and could only be negotiated at an enor- 
mous discount. The measure led eventually to a bankruptcy of 
no less than thirty-three milliards of francs. 

The pressure of the financial crisis and the generally unsettled 
state of affairs exposed the Directory to intrigues and conspiracies 
from various quarters. Their suppression, Avhich Avas effected 
Avithout much difficulty, contributed to strengthen the hands of 
the Directory ; but the chief glory of their administration was that 
derived from the brilliant successes of Bonaparte in Italy, of which 
Ave must proceed to give some account.! 

§ 13. The fortunes of Napoleon Bonaparte had been manifestly 

* Thiers, Hist. Rev., vo\. viii., p. 199. 

t It is impossible, within the limits of the present work, to present even a 
sketch of Napoleon's memornhle campaigns : an account of their result!; is al- 
most all that cn7i bo attcm])tod. 



A.D. 1796. MAERIAGE OF BONAPARTE. 581 

in the ascendant ever since his important services rendered to the 
government on the "Day of the Sections;" immediately after 
which, as already stated, he had been advanced to the chief com- 
mand of the army of the interior. His marriage with Madame 
de Beauharnais* (afterward the Empress Josephine), which took 
place on the 9th of March, 179G, was another step in his prosper- 
ous career. This connection procured for him the good offices of 
JJarras, Tallien, and Carnot — pei-haps the three most influential 
men of the day. Bonaparte, who had not yet completed his twen- 
ty-seventh year, was now appointed general-in-chief of the army 
of Italy ; and quitting Paris only twelve days after his marriage, 
he reached head-quarters at Nice, and assumed the command on 
the 27tli of March, 1796. 

The force under his orders, amounting to about thirty-five thou- 
sand men, was at this time in a wretched state of distress and in- 
efficiency fi'om the want of provisions and clothing ; neglect and 
disorder prevailed in all departments of the service. The French 
were opposed to the combined army of sixty thousand Austrians 
and. Piedraontese, commanded by Generals Beaulieu and Colli. 
Bonaparte, notwithstanding the destitute condition of his troops, 
lost no time in executing a forward movement toward Genoa. 
His plan was to pierce the centre of the enemy's line, thus sep- 
arating the Imperialists from their allies. In this he was com- 
pletely successful ; Beaulieu fell back toward Milan, Colli toward 
Turin ; Bonaparte marched in close pursuit of the latter, and hav- 
ing reached Cherasco, only ten leagues from Turin, there dictated 
on the 28th of April the conditions of an armistice, which was 
soon afterward converted into a definitive peace. Hard terms 
were imposed on the vanquished ; the King of Sardinia ceded to 
the French republic Savoy and the county of Nice, thus placing 
at the command of the victors all the great lines of communica- 
tion between France and Italy; and Alexandria, Tortona, and 
other principal fortresses of (he kingdom Avere given up to the 
French in guarantee until the conclusion of a general peace. 

§ 14. Scarcely allowing his soldiers to taste repose, Bonaparte 
now turned against the discomfited Austrians. The French cross- 
ed the Po at Piacenza on the 7th of May, and drove back Beau- 
lieu upon the line of the Adda; the strongly fortified bridge of 
Lodi was carried, after a desperate struggle, on the lOtli, and the 
enemy retreated in the utmost confusion on the Mincio. This 

* This l;T(ly was tlie daughter of a West Indian planter, and widow of the 
Vicomte de Beauharnais, who had been guillotined during the Reign of Ter- 
ror. She had two children by her first husband ; Eugene, afterward Vice- 
roy of Italy, and Hortense, afterward Queen of Holland, and mother of the 
present Emperor of the Freneli. 



582 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

movement left the road to Milan open to the march of the invad- 
ers ; they advanced immediately, and Bonaparte made his entry 
into the capital of Lombardy amid the acclamations of the multi- 
tude on the loth of May. 

Meanwhile the commanding genius and marvelous success of 
the young general had inspired the home government with aston- 
ishment and admiration, which were soon exchanged for feelings 
of jealous alarm. Finding that they had to deal witli one Avho 
could not only direct manoeuvres and win battles, but who also 
took upon himself to negotiate with sovereign pi'inces, to sign 
treaties, to decide independently questions of the highest political 
importance, the Directors made several attempts, by letters full of 
advice and even of covert rebuke, to obstruct and fetter his move- 
ments, lionaparte met their interference witli firm resistance; 
and a proposal having been made to divide the army — one half 
i-emaining in Lombardy imder the orders of Kellermann, while 
Avith the other Bonaparte was to march upon Kome and Naples 
— the latter positively declined to comply, and intimated that lie 
would prefer resigning his command. So great already was his 
fame and popularity, that the Directory dared not accept this al- 
ternative, and Bonaparte was consequently left in supreme and 
imdivided authority. From that moment he not only directed 
the whole of the operations of the war in Italy, hut acquired an 
influence over the government at Paris which could not be con- 
cealed or disavowed, and 'which Avas destined to lead in due time 
to results of the greatest importance. 

On the 27th of May the French army Avas again in motion, and 
commenced the siege of the strong fortress of Mantua. A second 
Austrian army Avas noAV dispatched to Lombardy, under the or- 
ders of Marshal Wurmser, one of the ablest and most experienced 
generals of the empire. While he was on his march to the scene 
of action, Bonaparte, leaving a strong force to blockade Mantua, 
proceeded to Bologna, and there dictated the conditions of an 
armistice Avith Pope Pius VI. Twenty-.one millions of francs, to- 
gether with one hundred valuable pictures and other Avorks of art, 
Avere extorted from the helpless pontiff; he also consented to the 
occupation of Bologna, Ferrara, and Ancona by French troops. 
The Grand-Duke of Tuscany was in like manner constrained to 
receive a French garrison at Leghorn, in order to exclude the En- 
glish from the commerce of that port. 

§ 15. Marshal Wurmser, having concentrated an army of sev- 
enty thousand men, advanced from Trent on the 29th July. But 
he Avas no match for the young general. After repeated defeats, 
the A-eteran marshal retreated Avith the remains of his army into 
Mantua, Avhich, having been amply furnished Avith stores and pro- 
visions, Avas cMpahlo of a prolonged resistance (Sept. 10). 



A.D. 1796. BATTLE OF AKCOLR. 583 

During these memorable campaigns in North Italy, the course 
of the war in other quarters had proved unfavorable to the arms 
of the French republic. The army of the Sambre and the Meuse, 
under Joui'dan, and tiiat of the llhine and the Moselle, command- 
ed by the famous Moreau, were confronted by the Austrians un- 
der the Archduke Charles, a prince of superior niilitary capacity, 
with a force numbering upward of oiie hundred thousand men. 
Moreau and Jourdan both crossed the ilhine, the former between 
Strasburg and Kelil, the latter at Mayence. Jourdan was defeat- 
ed at Wurtzburg on the 3d of September, and rccrossed the Rhine 
soon afterward into the P"'rench territory. Moreau, who had con- 
tinued his advance as far as Munich, thus found himself in an ex- 
ceedingly critical position. The archduke marched upon tlie 
Neckar, with the view of cutting off liis communication with 
France ; upon this Moreau determined to retrace his steps by the 
valley of the Danube, and executed, in spite of all difficulties, his 
masterly and celebrated retreat through the I^lack Forest and the 
de'files of the Hollenthal. In twenty-six days he conducted his 
army, without serious loss, to the French frontier at Huningue. 

§ 16. The army under Bonaparte, notwithstanding its extraor- 
dinary train of victories, was left in a situation of considerable 
anxiety upon the retreat of Jourdan and Moreau. The cabinet 
of Vienna, making a vigorous effort, assembled at Verona a third 
ai-my, sixty thousand sti'ong, under the command of Marshal Al- 
vinzi. The French were far inferior in number ; and, in the ear- 
lier encounters which ensued, success was decidedly on the side 
of the Austrians. The French attempted in vain to storm the 
Austrian position on the formidable heights of Caldiero, in front 
of Verona. Tlie troops now lost heart; alai'm, discontent, and 
murmuring became general. The fertile and daring genius of Bo- 
naparte, however, did not desert him in this dangerous predica- 
ment. Ho conceived the bold scheme of turning the left Hank of 
the enemy, and thus compelling him to abandon Caldiero and ac- 
cept battle at a disadvantage in the plain. Marching secretly 
from Verona, the French descended the Adige as far as Eonco ; 
there they crossed the Adige, and on the 14th of November made 
a furious* att:ick upon the bridge and village of Akcole, which 
commanded the great road from Verona to Vicenza. Arcole, 
which is surrounded by marshes, was obstinately contested, with 
terrible cai-nagc on botli sides ; Bonaparte himself, having seized 
a standard, Avhich he planted with his own hand upon the bridge 
to animate the soldiers, was precipitated into the mar.'^h, and 
was for some time in innninent peril. At nightfall, ho\ve\ci', the 
French recrosscd the Adige, and fell back upon Konco. The next 
day the struggle Wfis renewed, but ngr.in v>itlt indecisive result; 



584 'iiliC KEPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

for Alvinzi had now descended from Caldiero, and Arcole was 
occupied with an overwhelming force. On the 17th the French 
advanced for the third time to attack this much-disputed village, 
and their heroic bravery and perseverance were at length success- 
ful ; the Austrians were driven out of Arcole, and retreated on 
Montebello, their losses during the three engagements having fallen 
not far short of eight thousand men. Never had Bonaparte pur- 
chased victory so dearly ; still he had triumphed — re-entering Ve- 
rona by the eastern gate, the opposite side to that from which he 
had marched four days before. 

§ 17. Six weeks of repose now^ intervened ; but early in Janu- 
aiy, 1797, Alvinzi once more appeared on the Adige with an army 
recruited to sixty thousand men ; and on the 14th of that month 
Avas fought the memorable field of Rivoo, in which 15onaparte, 
with scai'cely one half the numerical force of his opponent, obtain- 
ed one of his most splendid victories by sheer superiority of mili- 
tary science and precision of movement. This victory was fol- 
lowed by the surrender of Mantua. Wurmser capitulated on the 
2d of February, 1797, upon terms equally honorable to both par- 
ties. Twenty thousand Austrians became by this suiTcnder pris- 
onei'S to the French. 

From the theatre of their triumphs on the Adige and the Mincio 
Bonaparte 1 d his army into the territories of the Pope, against 
■whom the Directory had resolved to proceed to extremities. The 
States of the Church were quickly overrun, the papal troops over- 
powered and dispersed after a feeble resistance ; and Pius, yielding 
to necessity, signed the humiliating treaty of Tolentino (Feb. 19, 
1797), by which he ceded to the rapacious invader the legations of 
Bologna, Ferrara, and the Romagna, and Avignon with its terri- 
toiy ; an additional contribution of fifteen millions of francs was 
likewise exacted, and the Vatican and other celebrated galleries 
of Rome were again plundered of their choicest treasures. 

§ IS. Bonaparte, having vanquished in succession three imperial 
armies on the Italian side of the Alps, determined in the campaign 
of 1797 to transfer the Avar into the hereditary possessions of the 
house of Austria. He took the field on the 9th of March, forced 
the passes leading to Carinthia, and on the 9 th of April took up 
his head-quarters at Leoben, Avithin a few days' march of Vienna. 
The imperial cabinet, in consternation, hastened to demand a sus- 
pension of arms, which was granted ; commissioners were sent to 
the French head-quarters, and on the 18th of April, 1797, the 
preliminaries of peace betAveen F'rance and the empire Avere signed 
at Leoben. During the progress of this negotiation Bonaparte 
received tidings of a popular insurrection Avhich had broken out 
against the French at Bergamo, Verona, and otlier places in the 



A.D. 1797. THE FUENCIl OCCUPY VENICE. 535 

Venetian territory. Fearful excesses had been committed ; num- 
bers of the French were murdered, including even tlie helpless 
sick in the hospitals ; some hundreds were thrown into prison. 
A French vessel was lired at by the forts at the entrance of the 
Lido, and the captain and crew were killed. Upon the news 
of these outrages, the French general, burning with indignation, 
launched a declaration of war against the republic of Venice, and 
proceeded to take vengeance on the Queen of the Adriatic by the 
total annihilation of her ancient sovereignty. A French division 
immediately marched upon Venice, and took forcible possession of 
the arsenal and other military posts. The Venetian senate now 
abdicated its functions, and a democratical form of government 
was forthwith proclaimed. The conqueror next prescribed tlie 
terms of a treaty, by which Venice and its territory were to remain 
in the occupation of the French until a general peace ; a contri- 
bution was levied of six millions of francs, and the usual stipula- 
tion was made for the sacrifice of pictures and manuscripts. Such 
was the sudden and ignominious extinction of the time-honored 
commonwealth of Venice. 

§ 19. While the armies of the republic were thus daily adding 
to their laurels, and triumphing over the proudest monarchies of 
Europe, the internal condition of France was one of continual 
agitation and confusion. In the elections to the Legislature in 
the year 1797, the Royalists succeeded in returning upward of 
two hundred members iirmly attached to their opinions ; a strong 
party was thus formed in direct opposition to the existing govern- 
ment ; and its preponderance became immediately manifest by the 
nomination of General Pichegru (now a decided partisan of the 
Bourbons) as president of the Council of Five Hundred, and of 
another Royalist, Barbii-Marbois, to the same office in the Coun- 
cil of Ancients. Bai'thelemy, a man of known monarchical views, 
was substituted in the Directory for Letourneur, who retired by 
rotation. A counter-revolution appeared imminent ; and, to add 
to the embarrassment of the situation, the Directors were at feud 
among themselves. Barthelemy and Carnot favored the designs 
of the majority of the councils — the former from his Royalist con- 
victions, the latter mainly from bitter hatred of his colleague Bar- 
ras. The other three members, however — Barras, Rewbell, and 
La Rt'veillere — stood firm a^gainst the hostile coalition ; and since 
they possessed no constitutional or legal means of acting against 
their opponents in the l^egislature, they determined on the expe- 
dient of a coiqt cVe'lat, and for this purpose appealed for support to 
the young conqueror of Italy, who had given repeated proofs of 
his zeal for the Republican government, and to General Ploche, 
also an ardent Republican, and then in command of one of the 

n n 2 



586 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

armies on the Rhine. Hoche marched a large body of troops to- 
ward Paris, in direct contravention of the law which forbade the 
military to approach within a certain d'stance of the capital, 
l^onaparte dispatched one of his lieutenants, Augereau, a man of 
no political capacity, but a sturdy Eepublican and fearless soldier, 
who was immediately appointed to the chief command of Paris. 
Barras and his friends now made full preparations for striking a 
decisive blow. At a very early hour on the 18th of Fi-uctidor 
(Sept. 4, 1797) Augereau occupied the principal posts in Paris 
with 12,000 men, directed a strong column on the Tuileries, and 
placed a guai-d at the entrance of both the cliambers. AVhcn the 
obnoxious members made their appearance they were taken into 
custody, to the number of fifty-three, including Pichegru and Bar- 
be-Marbois, and conveyed to various places of confinement. A 
detachment was sent at the same time to the Luxemburg to ap- 
prehend the two refractory Directors, Carnot and Barthelemy, 
who had been kept in total ignorance of the scheme of their col- 
leagues. Carnot contrived to escape ; Barthelemy Avas captured 
and committed to the Temple. The minorities of the two cham- 
bers, consisting of members faithful to the Directory, were now 
assembled; and the Directors justified their proceedings by pro- 
ducing papers which fully proved the confidential correspondence 
of Pichegru and his associates with the exiled Bourbons. Upon 
this a decree was passed annulling the elections made in fifty-three 
departments, and condemning the representatives so elected, who 
were already in confinement, to ti'ansportation for life. This un- 
just sentence was executed in its utmost rigor; the unfortunate 
prisoners were banished to the pestilential swamps of Cayenne, 
which speedily proved fatal to many of them. A few, among 
whom Avere Pichegru and Barthelemy, eventually succeeded in 
making their escape. 

§ 20. Notwithstanding the preliminaries agreed upon at Leoben, 
many difficulties and much delay intervened before a full under- 
standing could be arrived at with Austria for the conclusion of a 
definitive peace. At length, through the firm and even menacing 
determination displayed by Bonaparte, the imperial commissioners 
yielded the points in dispute, and the result was the Treaty of 
Campo Formio, which was signed on the 17th of October, 1797. 
By this settlement France acquired possession of the Belgic prov- 
inces and the boundary of the Rhine, and of the Ionian Islands 
in addition. An independent commonwealth was established in 
North Italy, under the name of the Cisalpine Republic, compre- 
hending Lombardy, Parma, Modena, the Papal Legations, and the 
Venetian territory to the line of the Adige. On the other hand, 
the French ceded to the emperor the city of Venice, witli the rest 



A. D. 1798. EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 587 

of her ancient possessions — Friuli, Istiin, Dalmatia, and the islands 
of tlie Adriatic. A congress was opened immediately afterward 
at Kastadt to settle the details of a pacific arrangement between 
France and the minor states of German}^ 

Bonaparte, to whose genius alone the republic was indebted for 
the glory of this signal triumph, now repaired to Paris, and on the 
10th of December received the honor of an imposing public recep- 
tion from tlie Directory. He was at this moment, without ques- 
tion, the most popular man in France, and the impression became 
prevalent on all sides that his vast powers and ambitious charac- 
ter destined him eventually to play a foremost part in the political 
drama. The government, however, from mean pusillanimous feel- 
ings of jealousy, left him for the present without any substantial 
recompense for his great services, although several attempts were 
made in the chambers to obtain for him some suitable national 
acknowledgment. 

Bonaparte remained for some months in retirement, apparently 
occupied in the tranquil enjoyments of domestic life, and in learn- 
ed and scientific researches. But circumstances soon called him 
again into active employment. Early in 1798 great preparations 
were made by the Directory for a descent upon England, and the 
command of the expedition was offered to Bonaparte. The gen- 
eral visited Boulogne, reviewed the " army of England," made a 
cai'eful examination of the line of coast from Etaples to Ostend, 
and came to a conclusion unfavorable to the projected invasion ; 
it was consequently abandoned. Shortly afterward he proposed 
to the Directory an enterprise in a different quarter, by which, as 
he was persuaded, the commerce and power of England might be 
far more successfully assailed than by any direct attempt upon the 
Jiritish shores? this was an expedition into Egypt. Bonaparte 
liad long meditated on the immense advantages which the posses- 
sion of that country Avould secure to France, more especially as 
regards the command of the Mediterranean and the means of com- 
munication with India. He found great difficulty, however, in 
inducing the Directory to embrace his views ; and there is no 
doubt that their chief motive in at length giving their consent 
was the desire of removing from Paris a personage whom they 
very justly regarded as a dangerous rival. 

§ 21. Extensive preparations were now set on foot for the 
Egyptian expedition, and on the 19th of May, 1798, Bonaparte 
sailed from Toulon with an army of 3G,000 men, embarked in a 
fleet of twenty ships of war, besides an immense multitude of trans- 
ports, under the command of Admiral Brueys. A numerous body 
of savcuhs — naturalists, geographers, and other scientific men — also 
accompanied the expedition. Tlie Frcjicli shaped their course for 



588 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

Malta, the acquisition of whicli island was one of the principal 
objects contemplated by Bonaparte. The recreant knights of St. 
John, and their Grand Master de Hompesch, had already entered 
into a secret correspondence with the Kepublican general ; Valet- 
ta was surrendered after an empty show of resistance ; the island 
was ceded by a convention to France, and on the 10th of June 
Bonaparte took formal possession. General Vaubois, with a gar- 
rison of 3000 men, was left in command at Valetta ; the French 
armament again set sail, and after narrowly escaping an encount- 
er with the English fleet under Nelson, who scoured the Mediter- 
ranean in all directions to intercept them, the French descried the 
shores of Egypt on the 1st of July. The landing was effected the 
next day, and Bonaparte with little difficulty made himself master 
of Alexandria. Egypt, though nominally a province of the Turk- 
ish empire, was at this time, in fact, under the dominion of the 
Mamelukes, a race celebrated for ages for their martial qualities, 
and especially for the excellence of their cavalry. Mourad Bey, 
one of their most powerful chieftains, now concentrated his troops 
for the defense of Cairo. Bonaparte advanced without delay, and 
after a harassing march through the desert under a scorching sun, 
the French, on the 21st of July, came in sight of the army of the 
Beys, consisting of 6000 Mameluke horsemen and 20,000 infant- 
ry, posted in an intrenched camp at Embabeh, in front of Cairo. 
"Soldiers!" exclaimed Bonaparte, "remember that from those 
Pyramids forty centuries contemplate your deeds !" The Mame- 
lukes charged with furious gallantry, but made no impression upon 
the I'rench, who were drawn up in squares, and remained im- 
movable. After a desperate conflict the invaders gained a com- 
plete victory ; the enemy fled in confusion into Upper Egypt, and 
thence into Syria. The " battle of the Pyramids," as it was call- 
ed, gave Bonaparte immediate possession of Cairo, and decided 
virtually the conquest of Egypt. But this brilliant success was 
to be closely followed by a disastrous reverse. On the 1st of Au- 
gust, 1798, was fought the ever-memorable battle of the Nile, in 
which the French fleet was annihilated by Nelson. It left the in- 
vaders without a fleet, isolated from communication with Europe, 
and dependent on the precarious resources of a hostile country. 
Notwithstanding this great misfortune, Bonaparte applied himself 
with indomitable energy to the task of administering the government 
of Egypt, and labored to reduce the country under the permanent 
rule of the republic. His efforts were to some extent successful ; 
but a revolt which broke out on the 22d of October at Cairo cost 
the lives of several hundred Frenchmen, and was not suppressed 
till after the massacre of at least five thousand of the native in- 
habitants. The Ottoman Porte, too, encouraged by the triumph 



A.D. 1798. BATTLE OF ABOUKIK. 589 

of tlie British in Aboukir Bay, declared war against France, made 
an alliance with Russia, and assembled two armies, one at Rhodes, 
the other at Damascus, for the purpose of recovering Egypt. 
Bonaparte now determined, instead of waiting to be attacked, to 
advance against the Turks in Syria. He commenced his marcli 
with 13,000 men in February, 1799, and having captured El 
Arish, the frontier-fortress of Syria, proceeded to lay siege to Jaf- 
fa, which was carried by assault on the 13th of March. It was 
here that Bonaparte disgraced his name by butchering in cold 
blood no less than 1200 Turkish prisoners — an act of barbarity 
which he did not hesitate to acknowledge, but in vain attempted 
to excuse and justify. 

§ 22. The celebrated siege of Acre immediately followed. Tlic 
Turkish governor, Djezzar Pacha, was supported by Colonel Phi- 
lippeaux, an emigrant French officer, and by Sir Sidney Smith, who 
commanded a small Britisli squadron in the roads. The siege was 
pressed with the utmost skill, vigor, and bravery, but without suc- 
cess ; every attack was gallantly repulsed. During the progress 
of the operations a considerable Turkish force advanced from 
Damascus, and a battle ensued at Mount Tabor (April 16), in 
which Bonaparte routed the enemy with terrible slaughter. Acre, 
however, proved impregnable ; a last and desperate assault total- 
ly failed ; and Bonaparte, whose vague visions of Oriental domin- 
ion were thus finally dissipated, found it necessary to give orders 
for a retreat into Egypt. With an army seriously diminished and 
profoundly discouraged, the French general re-entered Cairo on 
the 14th of June. Fresh attempts were now made by Ibrahim 
and Mourad Beys to excite insurrection in Upper Egypt, and their 
movements were supported by the arrival of the second army of 
the Turks fi'om Rhodes, Avhich disembarked at Aboukir, 18,000 
strong, on the 11th of July. On the 25tli Bonaparte attacked 
the Turks in their intrenched camp at Aboukir, and after an ob- 
stinate contest succeeded in overthrowing them with tremendous 
slaughter. This victory, one of the most complete and brilliant 
in Bonaparte's career, was gained principally by the desperate 
gallantry of the French cavalry under General Murat. The 
Turkish army was annihilated ; besides those who fell in action, 
thousands of these turbaned warriors threw themselves headlong 
into the sea, Avhcre they perished in the vain attempt to reacli 
their ships. 

The battle of Aboukir was the last of Bonaparte's achieve- 
ments in the Egyptian expedition. Opposition, indeed, was now 
at an end, and the French were left in undisputed possession of 
the country. The thoughts of the conqueror, hoAvever, were soon 
diverted from the task of consolidating the rule of tlie repHblic in 



590 THE liEPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

its Eastern acquisitions. The accounts which reached him of the 
incapacity and misgovernment of the Directory — of the alarming 
reverses sustained by the Frencli arms in Italy — and of the gen- 
eral discontent, agitation, and anarchy which prevailed through- 
out France — determined him to take the bold step of quitting his 
army without permission from tlie government, and proceeding 
immediately to Paris. He felt that the long-looked-for moment 
had now arrived when he might strike a blow for the supreme di- 
i-ection of affairs with every prospect of decisive success. 'J'wo 
frigates were secretly prepared at Alexandria ; and Bonaparte, 
having intrusted the chief command of the army of the East to 
General Kleber, embarked on the 2oth of August. After a tedi- 
ous voyage, during which he was in imminent danger of being- 
captured by the English cruisers, and was detained several days 
at his native place of Ajaccio in Corsica, the general and his suite 
landed safely near Frejus on the 9th of October. His journey to 
Paris was an uninterrupted ovation ; he arrived on the 16th, and 
took up his abode without ostentation in a small house in the Kue 
de la Victoire. 

§ 23. "Their five Mnjesties of the Luxembin-g," as the Direct- 
ors were called, had proved themselves more and more incompe- 
tent to meet the various perplexing difficulties — social, financial, 
and administrative — which beset Republican France. They be- 
trayed their weakness by repeatedly resorting to the expedient of 
violent infractions of the law and the Constitution. The elections 
of 1798 had been, to a great extent, hostile to the government; 
and the precedent of the 18th Fructidor was followed by another 
coup d'etat on the 22d Floreal (May 11, 1798), Avhen a consid- 
erable number of deputies, of the ultra-deraocratical or anarcliist 
party, were forcibly expelled from the Legislature. The disorders 
of the finances, again, were a source of continual and vehement 
clamor against the Directors. The tyrannical law of hostages, 
by which tlie sons and brothers of emigrant Koyalists were liable 
to be imprisoned as substitutes for their expatriated relatives, was 
another grievance deeply felt and resented. 15 ut perhaps the most 
fatal ground of dissatisfaction was the ill success of the French 
armies in Italy and Switzerland, and the consequent loss of the 
proud and triumphant position which had be-en achieved by the 
treaty of Campo Formio. 

In 1798 the Emperor Paul of Russia took the initiative in form- 
ing a new coalition against France ; and a powerful army, com- 
manded by the celebrated Suwarrow, was marched into Northern 
Italy to co-operate with the Austrians under General Kray. Tlie 
French Generals Sherer, Masscna, and Joubert were successively 
defeated, the last being killed in the bloody and decisive battle of 



A.D. 1799. CABALS AGAINST THE DIRECTORY. 59] 

Novi (August 15). The powei" of France in Italy was destroyed 
by these repeated disasters, and tlie odium arising from this sud- 
den change of fortune fell heavily on the Directory. Naples sur- 
rendered to the royal army, assisted by the English under Nelson; 
and the French garrison at Home having capitulated after some 
resistance, the government of the Pope was re-established. The 
Kepublicans were thus completely expelled from Central and 
Southern Italy. 

The hostilities which took place during the same campaign in 
Switzerland were, on the whgle, more favorable to the French. 
Massena encountered the Kussians in the valley of the Linth, 
near Zurich, and in a succession of combats which followed, ex- 
tending over a line of near one hundred miles, discomfited all 
their manoeuvres, and finally drove them out of Switzerland in 
total confusion. Suwarrow now made a precipitate retreat into 
Bavaria, and Russia soon afterward withdrew from the coalition. 
An ill-advised descent of the English upon North Holland about 
the same time (Sept., 1799) was opposed with success by Gencr;;l 
Brune ; the Duke of York, who commanded, was bafHed in hi.i 
operations, and driven back upon the coast ; he found it necessary 
to sign a capitulation at Alkmaar on the 18th of October, and re- 
embarked for England Avith the remains of his army. 

§ 24. The elections made in the spring of 1799 were again de- 
cidedly hostile to the Directory, and a powerful cabal was imme- 
diately formed in the two councils for the purpose of effecting a 
change in the government. Rewbell, whose term of office had ex- 
pired, was succeeded by Sieyes, a declared enemy of the existing 
Constitution ; and that subtle intriguer accordingly became the 
leader of the malcontent faction. The Director Treilhard was 
forthwith compelled to resign, and was replaced by Gohier, an 
honest Rejuiblican of respectable ability ; and shortly afterward 
La Reveillere and Merlin yielded to a dictation Avhich they could 
not resist, and made way for Roger-Ducos, a mere creature of 
Sieyes, and General Moulin. This was called the Revolution of 
the 30th Prairial (June 18, 1799). 

The new Directory was thus composed of Barras, Sieyes, Go- 
hier, Roger-Ducos, and Moulin ; the chief influence in the admin- 
istration being unquestionably in the hands of Sieyes. That rest- 
less politician eagerly pursued his schemes for overturning the 
Directorial systeni, which he regarded as hopelessly corrupt and 
exhausted. He saw that the time was close at hand for striking 
a decisive blow, and looked anxiously around for fit instruments 
to aid in the accomplishment of his design. "We must have a 
head," he observed, " and a sword." For the first he relied, some- 
what too complacently, upon himself; for the second it was ncc- 



592 THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XXVII. 

essfiry to secure the services of some able, popular, and resolute 
military leader. It was now that the relatives and friends of Bo- 
naparte wrote to apprise liim of the favorable opportunity which 
circumstances had opened to his ambition, and to urge his imme- 
diate return to France. Bonaparte, after a brief examination of 
the state of parties, decided on offering his military support to 
Sieyes in the enterprise which the latter had long meditated ; and 
the revolution which followed was the result of their combination. 
§ 25. The Constitution of the year III. had conferred on the 
Council of Ancients the power of changing the place of meeting 
of the Legislative Body. The confederates, who possessed a ma- 
jority among the Ancients, arranged that the sessions of the Leg- 
islature should be transferred to St. Cloud ; a decree to that eifect 
was published on the morning of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 9, 
1799), and General Bonaparte was charged with its execution, 
being named for that purpose to the command of the military di- 
vision of Paris. The Council of Five Hundred, in which the ma- 
jority was hostile to the conspirators, met in the Orangery at St. 
Cloud on the 19th. Lucien Bonaparte was president. The as^ 
sembly proceeded, in the midst of extraordinary agitation, to re- 
new individually the oath of fidelity to the Constitution of the 
year IIL Upon this, Bonaparte, losing patience, resolved to in- 
terfere personally, and bring matters to a decisive issue. After 
speaking at the bar of the Council of Ancients, he presented him- 
self at the door of the Council of Five Hundi-ed ; but here he was 
met by a storm of fierce disapprobation ; shouts of " Down with 
the dictator ! Down with the bayonets ! Outlaw the tyrant !" 
resounded on all sides. Bonaparte grew pale ; the assembly rose 
tumultuously and pressed with threatening gestures round the in- 
truder ; he turned to withdraw, and was at last almost carried 
out of the hall in the arms of his grenadiers."* He now determ- 
ined to employ armed force for the purpose of expelling the re- 
fractory council from its place of meeting. The word of command 
was given ; the grenadiers, led by Murat, entered the hall at the 
pas de charge with fixed bayonets ; and after a few moments' hes- 
itation, the terrified representatives dispersed in all directions. 
The hall being thus cleared, and fortunately without bloodshed, a 
small minority of the fugitives was collected under the presidency 
of Lucien ; and resolutions Avere passed, in conjunction with the 
Council of Ancients, which completed the trffnsactions of this 
eventful day. The Directory was abolished ; fifty-seven members 
of the Legislature were proscribed and sentenced to banishment ; 
the session of the Chambers was adjourned to the 20th February, 

=' It was affirmed that move than one dagger was aimed at the peneval's 
breast, and warded off by the soldiers. But tliis was never substantiated. 



A.D. 1799, REVOLUTION OF BRUMAIRE. 593 

1800; and the executive powei' was placed provisionally in the 
hands of a consular commission, composed of the citizens Sieyes, 
Bonaparte, and Roger-Ducos. Finally, both the legislative coun- 
cils nominated a committee of twenty-five members to prepare a 
report on the necessary changes to be made in the organic laws 
of the Constitution, to be presented at their next meeting. 

Such was the Revolution of the 18th and 19th of Brumaire 
(9th and 10th of November, 1799), which, from various causes, 
was accepted by the mass of the French nation, not only without 
opposition, but with general and lively satisfaction. The fall of 
the Directory, odious and contemptible as it had become by its 
vexatious tyranny, its gross corruption, and its signal ill success 
in the conduct of affairs, was regarded as an unmixed benefit ; 
while the name of Bonaparte — a name already celebrated not only 
in France, but throughout Europe, for all that is most splendid 
in genius and achievement — was echoed as a sure omen of pros- 
perity at home and recovered dominion abroad. Dazzled by hjs 
glory, so dear to the heart of a great martial people, the French 
did not pause to ask whether his elevation was likely to subserve 
the cause of Republican freedom, for which such terrible struggles 
and sacrifices had been made during the past ten years. The helm 
was abandoned to him in blind implicit confidence. He contin- 
xied to maintain for a short time the external forms and usages 
created by the Revolution ; but, in reality, the first day of Bona- 
parte's assumption of power was the last of the republic. Revo- 
lution, after exhibiting various successive phases of social disor- 
der, license, and extravagance, seems to have an almost inevitable 
tendency to merge in the directly opposite extreme — that of a 
stringent military despotism. Such was now to be the destiny of 
revolutionary France during a period of fourteen years, under the 
rule of her cherished idol. Napoleon Bonaparte. 



■jL+i-^-. lit,, '►■r'l *" ■*• 



'1 




Execiitioa of tlic Duke of Knghien at Vincennes, March 21, 1S04. ('See p. fiOT.) 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE CONSULATE. NOVEMBER 10, 1799 MAY 18, 1804. 

§ 1. The " Constitution of the Year VIII." § 2. Bonaparte's first Measures 
of Government ; fruitless Negotiation with England. § 3. Cam]!aign of 
1800 ; Passage of the St. Bernard ; Battle of Marengo ; Convention with 
the Austrians. § 4. Campaign of Moreau in Bavaria ; Battle of Hohen- 
linden; Peace of Lune'ville. § 5. English Expedition to Egypt; Assas- 
sination of General Klcber ; Battle of Alexandria ; Evacuation of Egvpt 
by the Erench ; Peace of Amiens. § G. Attempts against the Life of Bo- 
naparte ; the "Infernal Machine." § 7. Internal Administration of Bo- 
naparte; the Code Napoleon ; the Concordat. §8. The Legion of Hon- 
or ; Bonaparte appointed Consul for Life. § 9. The Italian Republic ; 
Ligurian Republic ; Disturbances in Switzerland ; Bonaparte becomes 
"Grand Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation ;" Insurrection in St. Do- 
mingo ; Toussaint I'Ouverture. § 10. Rupture of the Peace of Amiens; 
its Causes ; Detention of British Subjects traveling in France. §11. 
Seizure of Hanover ; Preparations for the Invasion of England ; Conspi- 
racy of Georges Cadoudal and Pichegru. § 12. Seizure and Execution 
of the Duke of Enghien. . § 13. Trial and Execution of the Chouan Con- 
spirators ; Napoleon proclaimed Emperor of the French ; Creation of 
Marshals of the Empire. § 14. Coronation of the Emperor and Empress ; 
the Kingdom of Italy. 

§ 1. The "Constitution of tlie Year VIII." was promulgated 
on the loth of December, 1799. The executive consisted of 
THREE Const i.s, named for ten years, and capable of re-election. 



A.D. 1799. 



THE CONSULATE. 



)95 



It Avas their province to prepare and propose new laws, in con- 
cert with the Council of State, tlie members of wliich they 
nominated. The discussion of the measures tlius reconmicnded 
belonged to a Tribunate of one hundred members ; while the 
Legislative Chambek, numbering three hundred deputies, pos- 
sessed only the power of accepting or rejecting diem without dis- 
cussion. Another institution was added, called the Consekva- 
TivE Senate, which was composed of eighty members appointed 
for life: its duty was to watch over the maintenance of the Con- 
stitution, to prosecute and punish any infractions of it, and to 
name, from the lists presented by the electoi-al colleges, the mem- 
bers of the Tribunate and the Legislative Cliamber. The repre- 
sentative system was retained in name, but the influence of the 
people was in fact greatly diminished, if not altogether nullified. 
The mass of tlic citizens voted only for the notables of the com- 
munes, who again elected a tenth of their number as notables of the 
deiKU'tments ; a tenth part of these were in their turn named nota- 
bles of France; and it was from this latter list of candidates that 
the members of the Legislative Chamber were selected by the Sen- 
ate. It was easy to discern, under this very thin veil of popular 
institutions, the inevitable approach of an absolute dictatorship. 




Medal of lliree l^on.-^ulJ. 



§ 2. Bonaparte was now appointed, as a matter of course. First 
Consul, and, being empowered to nominate two colleagues, chose 



596 THE CONSULATE. Chap. XXVIIL 

Cambaceres, a lawyer of considei*able talent, who in the Conven- 
tion had voted for the death of Louis XVI., and Lebrun, a man 
of integrity but of slender ability, who had held a subordinate of- 
fice in the last years of the monarchy. The second and third 
consuls possessed only a consultative voice in the government ; the 
supreme executive power rested with Bonaparte alone. Sieyes, 
declining, from feelings of not unnatural pique, the post of second 
consul, was named a member of the Senate, and received from the 
First Consul the fine estate of Crosne, which was exchanged aft- 
erward for another near Versailles. The new constitution was 
submitted, pro /brma, to the approbation of the nation at large, 
and was accepted by upward of three millions of suflfrages in- 
scribed on the public registers, while the dissentient votes were 
only 1567. 

On the 19th of February, 1800, the First Consul took up his 
official residence with great pomp at the palace of the Tuileries, 
and was soon surrounded by a court foi'raed very much upon the 
ancient regal pattern. 

Bonaparte's first political step on assuming the reins of power 
was to address a letter directly to the King of England contain- 
ing overtures for peace. "Must the war," he asked, "which for 
eight years past has ravaged the four quarters of the globe, be 
eternal? Are there no means of coming to an understanding? 
Why should the two most enlightened nations of Europe sacrifice 
to vain ideas of greatness the interests of commerce, internal pros- 
perity, and the happiness of families, forgetting that peace is the 
highest necessity as well as the highest glory V This communi- 
cation, however, met with no favorable response from the British 
government. The First Consul's sincerity was doubted ; and a 
formal diplomatic reply was returned by Lord Grenville to Talley- 
rand, intimating that the only substantial security for peace was 
to be found in the restoration of the ancient dynasty to the throne 
of France, The negotiation thus proved fruitless, to the satisfac- 
tion pi'obably of Bonaparte, who gained credit with the country 
for his endeavors to effect a pacification, while at the same time 
he rejoiced in the prospect of continued warfai'e, from which he 
anticipated fresh triumphs, and the consequent stability of his own 
powei'. Austria likewise persisted in hostility, and the First Con- 
sul forthwith commenced his preparations for taking the field in 
the spring. 

The first acts of Bonaparte's internal administration were judi- 
cious, moderate, and conciliating. The tyrannical law of hostages 
Avas repealed ; the churches were once more thrown open for Chris- 
tian worship; the heathenish "Decades" of the Revolution were 
abolished, and the observance of Sunday restored; numbers of 



A.E7. ISOO. BONAPARTE CROSSES THE ALPS. 597 

emigrants were permitted to return to France ; thousands of non- 
juring priests, who had languished for years in prison, regained 
their liberty. The sentence of transportation against the fifty-nine 
deputies, passed on the 19th of Brumaire, was not executed; they 
were merely ordered to remain at a distance from Paris, under 
tlae surveillance of the police. The state of the public finances im- 
proved rapidly under the able management of the minister Gaudin, 
and the national credit revived to a great extent. 

§ 3. The campaign of 1800 commenced in April by a movement 
of the Austrians, commanded by General Melas, against the French 
army of Italy under ihe orders of Massena. The enemy drove 
back Massena and Souls into Genoa, and compelled Suchet, with 
another French division, to retire to Borghetto. The imperial 
general now detached a s^rong force to besiege Genoa, and with 
the rest of his army pursued Suchet, intending to invade Franco 
by the frontier of Provence. His plans, however, were soon dis- 
concerted by the daring genius and vigorous operations of Bona- 
parte. The First Consul had conceived the design of forcing a 
passage for his army across the most difficult and dangerous of the 
Alps of Switzerland, and descending upon the plains of Piedmont 
in the rear of the Austrian lines. On reaching Geneva, on the 
loth of May, Bonaparte found himself at the head of about 35,000 
soldiers. The pass of the Great St. Bernard had been carefully 
examined by the French engineers, and upon their reporting that 
it was possible, though barely possible, to cross, the order was im- 
mediately given to advance, and the march commenced. Officers 
and troops vied with each other in surmounting with admirable 
devotion the obstacles which met them at every step of their prog- 
ress. The cannon, dismounted and placed in the hollow trunks 
of trees, were dragged by the soldiers up paths usually deemed im- 
practicable at that season of the year, a hundred men being har- 
nessed to each gun. The carriages were taken to pieces and trans- 
ported on the backs of mules. The summit of the mountain was 
attained on the loth ; the descent on the Italian side, though of- 
fering difficulties by no means inferior to the ascent, was safely ac- 
complished, and on the 16th of May the advanced guard, consist- 
ing of six regiments commanded by the gallant Lannes, debouched 
into Piedmont, and took possession of Aosta. But Lannes soon 
found his advance arrested by the fortress of Bard, which com- 
pletely commands the passage of the narrow valley of the Dora- 
Baltea. It was attempted to carry the place by assault, but in 
vain ; at length the cavalry and infantry, making a detour to the 
left, forced their way across the precipitous sides of the Mont Al- 
baredo; the artillery, concerning which serious apprehensions were 
at first entertained, was cari'ied during the night through the streets 



598 THi: CONSULATE. Chap. XXVIII, 

of the town of Bard, -which had been thickly covered with straw 
and dung, under the very guns of the citadel, without exciting the 
observation of the garrison. Having overcome this formidable 
obstacle, the French army continued to advance, and proceeded by 
Novara to the banks of the Ticino. Meanwhile General Moncey, 
with 16,000 men, had crossed the Mont St. Gothard and descend- 
ed to Bellinzona, and General Thuneau, with another division, had 
entered Lombardy from the Mont Cenis ; the whole French army 
now moved in concert upon Milan, and Bonaparte took posses- 
sion of that city without opposition on the 2d of June. 

During these operations, Massena, who had sustained with 
dauntless resolution a siege of sixty days in Genoa, was reduced 
to the last extremity, and compelled to capitulate; he evacuated 
the place with th.e remains of his garrison on the 5th of June. 
Melas, on receiving the utterly unexpected and alarming intelli- 
gence of Bonaparte's arrival at Milan, concentrated his army in 
all haste at Alessandria. Bonaparte took up a position Avith his 
Avhole force in the great plain of Marengo, being sejjarated by the 
l^ivcr Boi'raida from the enemy's lines. The memorable battle 
of Marengo was fought on the 14th of June, 1800. In the early 
part of the day the advantage was decidedly on the side of the Im- 
perialists ; but in the afternoon, the arrival of Desaix with a fresh 
corps, and a desperate charge of cavaliy under Kellermann, com- 
pletely changed the fortunes of the day. The Austrians were 
driven back on all points, and lied in confusion across the Bor- 
mida. The loss of the two armies in this engagement Avas about 
equal, amounting on each side to about 7000 slain. The French 
had to lament the untimely death of Desaix, one of their ablest 
and most brilliant captains, who was mortally wounded at the 
head of his column as he led it to the charge. But the position 
of the Austrians, with a victorious enemy encamped on the Bor- 
mida in their front, was now desperate ; and Melas had no re- 
source but to enter into negotiation with the French general. A 
convention Avas signed on the day after the battle, by Avhich it AA'as 
agreed that the Austrian army should retire beyond the Mincio ; 
twelve fortresses Avere likcAvise surrendered to France, including 
Milan, Turin, Genoa, Piacenza, and Alessandria. Thus, in the 
coui'se of a single month, and by the unfavoi'able issue of one great 
battle, did the Imperialists lose all the advantages they had ac- 
quired in Northern Italy, Avhile France recovered all the ground 
Avhich had been conquered by Bonaparte in his earlier campaigns. 
An armistice was concluded until the arrival of instructions from 
Vienna, which might prove the basis of a general peace ; and Bo- 
naparte returned immediately to Paris, Avhere he Avas naturally 
Avelcomed Avith boundless enthusiasm. The splendid A'ictory of 
IVIarenco had an immense effect in consolidating his pov.or. 



A.D. 1800, 1801. BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN. 590 

§ 4. The campaign of the nrmy of the Rhine, under the orders 
of Moreau, was scarcely less successful, and added much to the al- 
ready high reputation of that general. The object was to pene- 
trate by the valley of the Danube into the hereditary states of 
Austria. Moreau, driving before him the Austrians, took posses- 
sion of Munich ; but the news of the convention entered into be- 
tween Bonaparte and Melas after the battle of JMarengo led to a 
coi-responding cessation of hostilities in Germany. Negotiations 
for peace Avere now opened between Finance and Austria; but, 
after a delay of some months, the conferences were broken off, and 
hostilities recommenced toward the end of November. 

The Austrian army, now commanded in chief by the Archduke 
John, was strongly posted on the line of the Inn. The archduke 
imprudently advanced toward Munich through the great forest of 
Hohenlinden, which is intersected in all directions by narrow and 
difficult defiles. Moreau attacked him vigorously on the 2d of 
December, and tlie result was the glorious victory of Hohenlin- 
den; the Imperialists sustained a tei'rible defeat, and fled in ut- 
ter panic, leaving behind them 7000 killed and wounded, 8000 
prisoners, and a hundred cannon. So severely was this calamity 
felt at Vienna, that all hope of prolonging the struggle successfully 
was at once abandoiied. An armistice was granted by Moreau ; 
and peace Avas concluded between Austria and France at Lunc- 
ville on the 9tli of February, 1801, on terms nearly identical with 
those of Campo Formio. The emperor renewed the cession of the 
Belgic provinces and the boundary of the llhine ; he also ac- 
knowledged the independence of the Batavian, Helvetic, Cisalpine, 
and Ligurian republics. 

§ 5. Great Britain was still obstinate in the prosecution of hos- 
tilities. Malta surrendered to the British in September, 1800, 
and the communications between France and Egypt became, in 
consequence, difficult and precarious. The English cabinet now 
resolved on undertaking an expedition to Egypt, with a view of 
Avresting it altogether out of the hands of the enemy. General 
Kleber, whom Bonajmrte had left there in command, was stabbed 
to the heart by a fanatical Turk, and expired on the 14th of June, 
1800, the same day that witnessed the death of Desaix on the field 
of Marengo. The command now devolved upon General Menou, 
a man of inferior capacity, who had made himself ridiculous in the 
eyes of the army by embracing the Mohammedan religion, and 
marrying a Turkish wife. The English armament, under the or- 
ders of Sir Ralph Abei-cromby, reached the Bay of Aboukir on 
the 1st of March, 1801 ; the disembai-kation was effected on the 
8th in the face of the French, after some desperate fighting and 
severe loss on botli sides ; and a general engagement took place 



GOO THE CONSULATE. Chaf. XXVIII. 

on the 21st, in wliicli the British, after a long and sanguinary con- 
flict, repulsed their adversaries, who were driven back for shelter 
into the fortress of Alexandria. The victory, however, was dearly 
purchased; the English sustained an irreparable loss in their com- 
mander Aberci'omby, who died of his wounds a few days after the 
battle. The French wei-e sorely discouraged by this defeat, and 
on the 31st of August Menou signed a convention with General 
Hutchinson, in virtue of which the remainder of the French army 
was immediately withdrawn from Egypt. 

Many considerations, however, now disposed both the French 
and English governments toward an accommodation of their dif- 
ferences. Mr. Pitt, the pertinacious enemy of France, retired from 
the ministry in February, 1801 ; a congress assembled at Amiens, 
and peace was signed in that city between Great Britain, France, 
Spain, and tlie Batavian Republic, on the 27th of Mai'ch, 1802. 
England surrendered on this occasion all her conquests made dur- 
ing the war, with the exception of the islands of Trinidad and 
Ceylon, which were ceded to her in full sovereignty. Malta was 
to be restored to the Knights of St. John, its independence being 
guaranteed by all the powers of Europe. Egypt reverted to the 
dominion of the Ottoman Porte. France engaged to evacuate 
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Papal States, and to re- 
place in their full integrity the dominions of the queen of Portu- 
gal. Although the terms of this treaty were complained of in 
both houses of Parliament as humiliating to Great Britain, the 
tidings of the pacification were received, on the whole, with lively 
satisfaction on both sides of the Channel. It appears, however, 
that no sanguine expectation existed on either side that the peace 
would be of long continuance. 

§ G. In proportion as the pre-eminent abilities displayed by 
Bonaparte, and the marvelous successes of his recent campaigns, 
added strength and the promise of stability to his government, he 
incurred the deadly enmity of the two extreme factions of the 
Kevolutionists and the Royalists, whose hopes he had so signally 
defeated. They plotted against him with unwearied activity, 
aiming, in the desperation of their malice, at nothing short of his 
assassination. One attempt on the part of the Royalists was 
within a hair's breadth of success. The " infernal machine" is 
said to have been originally invented by a Jacobin named Cheva- 
lier.* It consisted of a barrel full of gunpowder and various 
deadly projectiles, fixed upon a cart, and furnished with a slow 
match, by means of which it might be suddenly exploded from a 
considerable distance, producing indiscriminate slaughter on all 
sides. This murderous engine was imitated by two fanatical 
* Tliibnudo.ui, Cons/i/af, vul. ii., [i. 'do. 



A. D. 1800-1803. INFERNAL MACHINE.— CODE NAPOLEON. QQl 

Chouans named Carbon and St. Regent, already well known for 
their fearless hardihood in the bloody scenes of the Vende'an war; 
they placed it, on the 24th of December, 1800, in the middle of 
the narrow Kue St. Nicaise, through which they knew that Bona- 
parte must pass that evening on his way to the Opera. The equi- 
page of the First Consul passed the cart an instant before the ex- 
plosion took place, and he reached the theatre in safety ; but the 
glasses of Madame Bonaparte's carriage, which closely followed, 
were shattered to fragments. The sacrifice of life was terrible; 
fifty-two persons were killed or severely wounded. 

§ 7. Bonaparte's measures of internal organization were for the 
most pai't wise, sagacious, and highly beneficial to France. His 
task was, in fact, nothing less than the reconstruction of society, 
which had lapsed into a state of utter chaos ; and the versatile 
genius and indefatigable industry of the First Consul carried new 
life and energy into every department of the social system. Com- 
merce, agriculture, manufactures, the. revenue, the regulation of 
public institutions of all kinds — museums, libraries, schools, col- 
leges, professorships — public works, many of vast magnitude — 
such, for instance, as the splendid road from I'rance to Italy by 
the Pass of the Simplon — all became in turn the subjects of his 
personal and anxious labor, and all prospered to a marvelous ex- 
tent under his hands. 

But perhaps the most valuable and important monument of the 
earlier part of Bonaparte's administration is the systematic digest 
of national law, called the Code Civil, or Code Napoleon. The 
necessity of this great enterprise had been already pi'oclaimed by 
the Constituent Assembly, in order to reduce to uniformity the 
confused mass of provincial customs and traditions, and some pre- 
liminary steps had been taken toward it. Bonaparte intrusted 
the undertaking to a commission, consisting of the Second Consul 
Cambaceres, and several lawyers of the highest reputation, who 
executed their task with remarkable zeal, patience of research, 
ability, and learning. The result of their labors was eventually 
submitted to the Council of State, in which the First Consul him- 
self presided. He entered freely into the debates, and is said to 
have treated the various pi'ofound and complicated qu^tions un- 
der consideration Avith an acuteness, perspicuity, and force of rea- 
soning which astonished even the most experienced jurisconsults 
who had devoted their whole lives to the study of law. The de- 
liberations on the Civil Code extended over three years ; it was 
at length promulgated on the 21st of March, 1803. 

Another subject, and one of extreme delicacy and difficulty, 
was the state of ecclesiastical affairs. Personally, the First Con- 
sul seems to have had no religious belief beyond a vague recogni- 

C r 



602 THE CONSULATE. Chap. XXVIII. 

tion of the existence of a Supreme Being ; yet he had fully re- 
solved, from political considerations, to re-establish the public 
profession of Christianity, and to restore, within certain limits, 
the ancient Catholic Church of France. The negotiation which 
he entered into with the Pope was successfully conducted, and 
the celebrated act called the Concordat was signed on the 15 th 
of July, 1801. The following were its principal provisions: 
I. The Koman Catholic religion was declared to be that of the 
French government, and of the majority of Frenchmen ; its woi'- 
ship was to be publicly celebrated throughout France. II. All 
the ancient sees were suppressed, the Pope requiring the existing 
prelates to resign their preferments for this purpose. III. Ten 
new archbishoprics and fifty bishoprics were created, to which the 
First Consul was to nominate, while the See of Kome was to con- 
fer the canonical institution. The diocesans were to present to 
the parochial cures, their choice, however, being in all cases sub- 
ject to the approval of the government. IV. The Pope sanction- 
ed the sale of Church property which had taken place during the 
Revolution, and reno.unced for himself and his successors all fu- 
ture claims to its resumption; the French government, in return, 
pledged itself to make an adequate provision for the maintenance 
of the clergy of all ranks. V. All ecclesiastics were to take an 
oath of allegiance to the existing government, and a prayer for the 
republic and the consuls was inserted in the service of the Church. 

Certain "organic decrees" were artfully appended to the Con- 
cordat, consisting of farther regulations for the government of the 
Church, and asserting in strong terras the Galilean liberties, with 
express reference to the famous resolutions of 1682. 

§ 8. Bonaparte published soon afterward a general amnesty to 
emigrants, with certain exceptions. This measure was followed by 
the institution of the celebrated Legion of Honor (May 19, 1802). 
This was designed by him primarily as a means of publicly re- 
warding distinguished services, military, civil, and scientific ; but 
he had also an ulterior object — to lay the foundation of an order 
of society which should occupy a middle place between the gov- 
ernment and the mass of the people ; to excite emulation, self- 
respect, a^ense of responsibility to public opinion, and other qual- 
ities whicn go to form the moral strength and prestige of a com- 
munity.* This purpose, however, was by no means understood 
or appreciated by the then generation of Frenchmen ; and the 
project of the Legion of Honor was vehemently combated and 
condemned, especially by the Republicans, who stigmatized it as 
contrary to the great principle of equality, as a revival of aristo- 
cratic privilege, and a first step toward hereditary nobility. 

* Thibaudean, Consulnf, vol. ii., p. 471, 479. 



A.D. 1802. THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC. 603 

The interval of peace which Europe now enjoyed was looked 
upon by Bonaparte and his friends as a favorable opportunity for 
prolonging his tenure of office as consul, and preparing the way 
for his assumption of absolute power. The Council of State de- 
termined to consult the nation on the question " whether Bona- 
parte should be named consul for life T' and, farther, " whether he 
should have the power of nominating his successor?" Kegisters 
were opened without delay in every cominune throughout France; 
the affirmative suffi-ages exceeded three millions and a half; and 
a senatiis-consultum of the 2d of August, 1802, proclaimed that the 
French people had elected Napoleon Bonaparte consul for life. 

At this epech of his career Bonaparte may be said to have 
reached the extreme limits of legitimate and honorable ambition. 
His domestic government had enabled him to assuage and rem- 
edy some of the most alarming maladies which afflicted France ; 
while abroad, the vigor of his character, the lustre of his talents, 
and the strong attitude assumed by France under his rule, had 
extended his influence, directly or indirectly, over almost the 
whole Continent of Europe. Could he but have rested content 
with this pi'oud position, his name might have descended to the 
latest posterity, not only as a consummate master of the art of 
war, but with the far more exalted glory of a real benefactor of 
his country. But, unhappily for himself and for the world, he 
soon began to betray that arbitrary reckless spirit of encroach- 
ment and self-aggi-andizement which at length combined all the 
great European monarchies in one indignant league against him, 
and ultimately sealed his ruin. 

§ 9. It was in the course of this year that the First Consul, 
summoning the most distinguished deputies of the states of north- 
ern Italy to meet him at Lyons, proceeded to reorganize the con- 
stitution of tlie Cisalpine Republic. The assembly resolved, after 
some discussion, that the executive government should be confided 
to a president, and requested Bonaparte to undertake that office. 
He accepted the proffered honor, and at once assumed the chief 
authority as President of the Italian Republic. A native Italian, 
Melzi, was named to represent him, with the title of Vice-president, 
at Milan. The Ligurian Republic was next remodeled upon the 
same pattern, except that in this case Bonaparte appointed a Doge 
as head of the executive power, instead of taking that dignity upon 
himself. Piedmont was formally incorporated Avith the French 
dominions in September, 1802 ; and about the same time the 
duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla were likewise seized, 
and placed under a French administration. The conduct of the 
First Consul with regard to Switzerland was equally oppressive 
and unjustifiable. The French troops had been withdrawn from 



604 'I'lIE CONSULATE. Chap. XXVIIL 

the country in accordance with the treaty of Luneville ; but 
stormy feuds immediately broke out between the Federalists, or 
friends of the ancient Constitution, and the partisans of the gov- 
ernment which had been established by the French Directory. 
The aristocratic faction succeeded in expelling their rivals from 
office, and set up a new executive go\ernment at Berne, at the 
head of which they placed the patriotic Aloys Reding. Upon 
this Bonaparte dispatched an army of 20,000 men under Ney to 
Berne to enforce the submission of the patriots and the re-estab- 
lishment of the Republican Constitution. The Swiss had no re- 
source but to bow implicitly to the dictator's will. Bonaparte 
was invested with the title of " Grand Mediator of the Helvetic 
Confederation." Geneva, Basle, and the canton of Valais were 
annexed to France. Though still recognized as independent, the 
Swiss republic became thenceforth subject in reality to the para- 
mount influence and authority of France. 

A successful insurrection having broken out in the island of St. 
Domingo,* headed by the celebrated negro adventurer Toussaint 
rOuverture, a powerful French army was dispatched thither in 
February, 1802, under General Leclerc, who had married Bona- 
parte's sister Pauline. Toussaint, a man of extraordinary energy 
and talent, defended himself with desperate valor for several 
months ; but, being worsted in many successive engagements, he 
was at length compelled to surrender, and was admitted to favor- 
able terms. Suspicion, however, having afterward arisen that he 
was secretly concerting fresh schemes of rebellion, Toussaint was 
suddenly arrested and carried to France. Here he Avas treated 
with extreme severity, and consigned to the remote fortress of 
Joux, among the Jura Mountains, where he expired on the 27th 
of April, 1803. Meanwhile the war between the French and the 
negroes in St. Domingo was x'enewed with the utmost fury. Ere 
long the yellow fever broke out in the island with unusual viru- 
lence, and the French troops were swept away by thousands by 
this tremendous scourge of a West Indian climate. Genei'al Le- 
clerc was among the victims. General Rochambeau succeeded 
him in the command ; but the army was now reduted to the most 
deplorable and helpless condition, having lost upward of 20,000 
men out of 30,000 by the merciless ravages of the pestilence. By 
this time the rupture of the peace of Amiens had once more pre- 

* The negroes of this colony had been declared free by a decree of the 
National Convention in 1 794. Not long afterward the black population rose 
against the Europeans, and after a bloody struggle established their inde- 
pendence. The Directory attempted, but in vain, to restore the dominion of 
Prance ; Generals Hedouville and Rigaud were defeated and driven from the 
island, and the government was then seized by Toussaint. Bonaparte, ou 
becoming first consul, had confirmed him in his authority. 



A.D. 1803. DISPUTES BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. gQS 

cipitated Great Britain and France into hostilities ; and a strong 
English armament having made its appearance at St. Domingo, 
the feeble remnant of the French force, after a brief attempt at 
resistance, capitulated in November, 1803. This important and 
once flourishing colony Avas thus wrested definitively from the do- 
minion of France. 

§ 10. The mutual grievances and acrimonious disputes which 
arose between the French and English governments almost im- 
mediately after the publication of the peace of Amiens left little 
hope that that arrangement was based on solid and durable foun- 
dations. The chief bone of contention was Malta, which Great 
Britain refused to evacuate, according to the stipulations of the 
treaty. Upon this point animated discussions took place between 
the First Consul and the British embassadoi'. Lord Whitworth ; 
and on one occasion during these negotiations Bonaparte so far 
forgot himself as to make use, at a public reception at the Tui- 
leries, of offensive and passionate language, and even of gestures 
personally insulting to the representative of England. Lord Whit- 
worth at length demanded his passports, and took his departure 
■from Paris on the 13th of May, 1803. This step was immediate- 
ly followed by the seizure of all vessels belonging to France found 
in the harbors of Great Britain ; and the damage to French prop- 
erty and commerce was estimated at three millions sterling. Bo- 
naparte retaliated by arresting all British subjects traveling at that 
time in France, and detaining them as prisoners of war. Plaving 
been so long excluded from the Continent by the Revolutionary 
war, the English had flocked across the Channel in multitudes on 
the announcement of the peace of Amiens ; and many thousand 
individuals of all classes and conditions, but especially of the high- 
er ranks, were thus suddenly deprived of their liberty, separated 
from their families and connections, and cut off for years from all 
intercourse Avith their native land. 

§ 11. The French commenced operations with vigorous energy. 
Toward the end of May a large body of troops under General 
Mortier invaded the electorate of Hanover, which submitted after 
a feeble resistance, and remained in the occupation of the French. 
Another strong division, commanded by St. Cyr, entered the king- 
dom of Naples, and took possession, without opposition, of Taren- 
to, Otranto, and Brindisi. But Bonaparte's chief attention Avas 
j\ow fixed upon a grand and hazardous project Avhich he had al- 
ready entertained, and which had only been laid aside until a fa- 
vorable opportunity — that of an armed descent upon the British 
shores. For this purpose immense naval preparations Avere made 
at Boulogne, Etaples, Ambleteuse, St. Valery, and other ports in 
the Channel, and a flotilla of near two thousand sail Avas collect- 



606 THE CONSULATE. Chap. XXVIII. 

ed ; a vast and splendidly-appointed army was at the same time 
assembled in a line of camps extending along the coast from Havre 
to Ostend. The only effect, however, of these menacing demon- 
strations was to excite a general outburst of patriotism and mar- 
tial spirit in England. The volunteer force of the United King- 
dom numbered in the course of a few weeks no less than 300,000 
men, while the fleet was augmented to the extraordinary amount 
of near six hundred vessels of war of various sizes. 

The recommencement of the war was the signal for fresh at- 
tempts, on the part of the various factions hostile to Bonaparte in 
France, to overturn his government and destroy his life. A con- 
spiracy was hatched in the autumn of 1803 among the Royalist 
refugees in London, headed by the brave and desperate Chouan 
Georges Cadoudal, General Pichegru, and two members of the Po- 
lignac family. A British vessel landed them secretly in Norman- 
dy, and they proceeded to Paris, where they endeavored to engage 
in their enterprise Moreau. The gallant general, however, recoil- 
ed in horror from the design of assassinating the First Consul ; 
and although there is no doubt that he held two private interviews 
with Cadoudal and Pichegru, and was in a state of sullen enmity' 
and opposition to the existing government, it does not appear that 
he in any way countenanced the plot, much less that he actively 
promoted it. The fact of the conspiracy, meanwhile, was soon 
discovered by Fouche and the police ; and Bonaparte, seizing with 
avidity the opportunity of destroying the influence of the only ri- 
val whom he really feared, determined to proceed against Moreau 
as a criminal, and caused him to be arrested on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, 1804. Farther revelations led to the apprehension of Pi- 
chegru and Georges Cadoudal. Other arrests followed in quick 
succession, until more than forty prisoners were secured. 

§ 12. While the Parisians were speculating upon the trial and 
punishment of the culprits, a mysterious and fearful deed of blood 
had been perpetrated close to the capital, the sudden announce- 
ment of which produced a profound sensation of horror not only 
in France, but throughout Europe. The Duke of Enghien, eldest 
son of the Duke of Bourbon, and grandson of the Prince of Conde, 
had been residing for some time at Ettenheim, in the territory of 
Baden, a few miles from the French frontier, with a vague inten- 
tion, it would seem, of taking part in any future attempt which 
might be made by the emigrants for the restoration of his family 
to the throne. The First Consul, harassed and exasperated by 
the reports which reached him from all sides of schemes for his 
assassination, resolved to seize the person of this young prince, 
and to deal with him as accessory to the conspiracy of Pichegru 
and Cadoudal, although no evidence whatever could be produced 



A.D. 1804. EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF ENGHIEN. gQ? 

to connect him with it, either by guilty knowledge or overt act.* 
A party of dragoons arrested the Duke of Enghien at Ettenheim 
on the night of the 15th of March ; he was conducted to the cita- 
del of Strasburg, and thence, after an interval of two days, trans- 
ferred rapidly to Paris, I'eaching the barriers early on the 20th. 
Without entering the city, the prince was taken to the castle of 
Vincennes, where he was brought before a military commission 
named by Murat, governor of Paris, The mock trial was con- 
ducted with indecent precipitation in the dead of the night ; the 
sentence of the court had been fully arranged beforehand ; the 
prisoner was condemned to death, and his execution took place in 
the fosse of Vincennes at six in the morning of the 21st of March. 

Conscious of the universal odium which this great crime must 
needs entail upon its author, Bonaparte made vai-ious inconsistent 
and lame attempts to shift off the responsibility from himself upon 
others, but in his more deliberate moments he adopted a very dif- 
ferent, and at least a more candid line of defense. He states in 
his last will and testament, "I caused the Duke of Enghien to be 
arrested and condemned, because that step was necessary to the 
safety, the interest, and the honor of the French people, at a mo- 
ment when the Count of Artois maintained, by his own confession, 
sixty assassins at Paris. In similar circumstances I would act in" 
the same way again."! 

§ 13. The formidable conspiracy of Georges Cadoudal was ini- 
doubtedly the proximate cause which impelled Bonaparte to take 
the final step in his extraordinary ascent to supreme despotic pow- 
er ; it was followed almost immediately by his assumption of an 
hereditary imperial throne. In an address voted by the senate, 
this change was expressly declared to be npcessary in consequence 
of the malignant plots of the enemies of France against the safety 
of the state ; Republican institutions, it was confessed, had proved 
unequal to the exigencies of the country ; a more fixed and stable 
government was indispensable. The proposal was accepted unan- 
imously by the Legislative Chamber; and on the 18th of May, 
1804, an " organic senatus consultum" proclaimed Napoleon Bo- 
naparte Emperor of the French, and declared the throne heredit- 
ary in his family in the order of male succession. The emperor 
might adopt either of the children of his brothers ; in default of 
his direct issue, or of such adoption, the imperial crown devolved 
upon his brothers Joseph and Louis Bonaparte, and their descend- 
ants. Lucien and Jerome were excluded from the succession in 
consequence of having contracted marriages of which Napoleon 
disapproved. Once more the flattering but altogether superfluous 

*■ Thibaudeaii. Consulnt, vol. iii., p. 548. 
j' Las Cases, Metnorial de Sainte Helene, 



COS 



THE CONSULATE. 



CnAi>. XXVIII. 



appeal was made to the will of the people, and the new dynasty 
was consecrated by 3,572,329 affiraaative votes, against 2569 only 
in the negative. Six grand dignities of the empire were now 
created : those of Grand Elector, Arch-Chancellor, Arch-Treas- 
urer, Chancellor of State, Constable, and Grand Admiral ; eight- 
een distinguished generals, most of whom had acquired their lau- 
rels under the command of Napoleon in the Italian campaigns, 
Avere named Marshals of the Empire. 

A few days after the promulgation of the empire (May 28, 
1804), the Chouan conspirators, among whom the government in- 
cluded General Moreau, were brought to trial before the ordinary 
criminal tribunal at Paris. One of the most important prisoners, 
Pichegru, was now no more ; on the 7th of April he had commit- 
ted suicide in his prison in the Temple. Georges Cadoudal and 
eighteen others were condemned to death, and Moreau to two 
years' imprisonment. Napoleon is said to have desired a capital 
sentence against Moreau, in order to gain credit for generous clem- 
ency by granting him a pardon ; he, however, commuted the im- 
prisonment for exile to the United States of America. Cadoudal 
and ten of his accomplices Avere executed, and met death with re- 
markable firmness and intrepidity. The remaining eight were 
spared by the emperor. 




Jledal of Napoleon, king of Italy. 



§ 14. Preparations were now commenced for the solemn cor- 
onation of the emperor and empress at the Cathedral of Notre 
Dame. As the founder of a new dynasty of French monarchs. 
Napoleon had resolved, after the example of Pepin, to obtain for 
his crown the personal sanction and benediction of the successor 
of St. Peter, the visible head of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius 
VII. made no difficulty ifi complying with the imperial request ; 
and the coronation was solemnized, with all imaginable pomp and 
magnificence, on the 2d of December, 1804. Napoleon, with char- 



A.D. 1804, 1805. CORONATION OF NAPOLEON. 609 

acteristic arrogance, took the crown, which had been previously 
blessed, out of the hands of the pontiiF, and placed it upon his 
own head ; he then proceeded to crown the empress, who knelt 
before him. A few months later Napoleon transformed the Cis- 
alpine Kepublic into a monarchy, and assumed the additional title 
of King of Italy. His coronation took place in the Cathedral of 
Milan on the 26th of May, 1805, the celebrated iron crown of the 
ancient Lombard princes being used on the occasion. The em- 
peror's stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais, was now invested with 
the dignity of Viceroy of Italy. The grandeur of the new empire 
was farther augmented by the annexation of the Ligurian Repub- 
lic ; the Genoese territory, constituting three French departments, 
was incorporated with France on the 30th of June, 1805. 

Cc2 



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Medal of Napoleon, struck in anticipation of his conquest of England. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE EMPIRE. I. FKOM ITS COMMENCEMENT TO THE MARRIAGE OF NAPO- 
LEON WITH MARIA LOUISA OF AUSTRIA. A.D. 1804-1810. 

§ 1. The Emperor's Letter to George III. ; Coalition between England, llus- 
sia, and Austria against France. § 2. Campaign against Austria ; Capit- 
. Illation of Ulm ; Napoleon enters Vienna. § 3. Battle of Trafalgar ; Sui- 
cide of Villeneuve. § 4. Battle of Austerlitz ; Treaty of Presburg ; Death 
of Mr. Pitt. § 5. Deposition of the Bourbons of Naples; Joseph iilade 
King of Naples, and Louis King of Holland ; Creation of Principalities 
and Duchies ; Hostilities with the English in Calabria ; Battle of Maida ; 
the Confederation of the Rhine. § 6. Negotiations for Peace with En- 
gland ; Rupture with Prussia ; Battle of Jena ; Destruction of the Prus- 
sian Army. § 7. Napoleon occupies Berlin; the Berlin Decrees; the 
"Continental System." § 8. Campaign against the Russians; Battles of 
Eylau and 'Friedland ; Peace of Tilsit. § 9. Abolition of the Tribunate ; 
Censorship of the Press ; National University ; the Conscription. § 10. 
Interference of Napoleon in Portugal and Spain ; Junot takes Possession 

• of Lisbon ; State of the Sffenish Court ; Treaty of Fontainebleau ; Occu- 
pation of Northern Spain by the French Armies ; Murat sent to Madrid 
as the Emperor's Lieutenant. § 11. Insurrection at Aranjuez; Abdica- 
tion of Charles IV. ; Ferdinand proceeds to Bayonne ; the Spanish Princes 
resign their Rights to Napoleon ; Joseph Bonaparte proclaimed King of 
Spain ; general Insurrection of the Spaniards ; Surrender of Dupont at 
Baylen. § 12. Resistance to the French in Portugal ; English Expedi- 
tion to Portugal ; Battle of Vimeira ; Convention of Cintra ; Conference 
of Erfurt. § 13. Napoleon proceeds to Spain, and enters Madrid ; Cam- 
paign of Sir John Moore; Battle of Corunna. § 14. Second War with 
Austria ; Battle of Eckmiihl ; second Occupation of Vienna ; the Viceroy 
Eugene's Campaign in Lombardy ; Revolt of the Tyrol. § 15. Battles of 
Aspern and Wagram ; Peace of Schonbrunn ; Annexation of the Roman 
States to the French Empire ; Captivity of Pope Pius VII. § 16. Sir A. 
Wellesley in Spain ; Battle of Talavera. § 17. Napoleon divorces Jose- 
phine, and marries the Archduchess Maria Louisa ; Birth of the King of 
Rome. 



012 THEEMPIEE. Chap. XXIX. 

§ 1. As on his first accession to power as consul, so on his ele- 
vation to the imperial throne, one of the earliest acts of Napoleon 
was to make pacific overtures to the court of Great Britain. In 
a letter dated the 2d of January, 1805, and commencing with the 
"words " Sire, my brother," the emperor expressed to the English 
monarch his earnest anxiety for peace. To this communication, 
as in the former instance, the British government (now again un- 
der the energetic guidance of Mr. Pitt), returned an official reply, 
addressed to the French minister of foreign afiairs, stating that 
England could not enter upon any definite negotiation for peace 
until she had consulted with her Continental allies, and particu- 
larly with the Emperor of Russia. This was a plain intimation 
to Napoleon, though he probably needed no such announcement, 
that Great Britain was busily engaged in concerting a fresh Eu' 
I'opean coalition against her ancient foe. A treaty was, in fact, 
signed in April, 1805, between England and the Emperor Alex- 
ander of Russia, by which the two powers bound themselves to 
use every eflfoi't to form a general league of resistance to the am- 
bition and encroachments of the French government. The league 
was afterward joined by Austria. 

The storm, however, though manifestly gathering, had not yet 
burst ; and Napoleon pressed with unabated activity the arrange- 
ments on the coast of the Channel for the menaced invasion of 
England. But when the hostility of Austria was openly declared, 
the emperor proclaimed that the operations of the " army of En- 
gland" were to be transferred to Germany; early in September 
the camp of Boulogne was rapidly broken up, and tlie vast mass 
of troops composing it directed their march toward the Rhine. 

§ 2. The Austrians, 80,000 strong, commanded by General 
Mack, crossed the Inn on the 7th of September, and advanced* 
upon Munich. Napoleon, by a series of brilliant manoeuvres, gain- 
ed a position in his rear, and intercepted his communications with 
Vienna. A series of engagements followed, in which the Austri- 
ans were repeatedly defeated ; and Mack, having taken i-efuge in 
Ulm, found himself obliged to capitulate with his whole force. 
On the 20th of October upward of 30,000 men laid down their 
arms and became prisoners of war. Thus, in the brief space of 
three weeks, and without having fought a single great battle, an 
army of 80,000 men had melted away before the consummate 
skill of Napoleon and the admirable precision of his movements. 
The conqueror made his entrance into the capital of the Austrian 
empire, without opposition, on the 13th of November, and estab- 
lished himself in the magnificent palace of Schonbrunn. Mean- 
while Marshal Massena had driven the Archduke Charles out of 
Italy and obtained possession of the Tyrol. 



A.D. 1805. BATTLE OF TEAFALGAR. 613 

§ 3. But if the pride of the French emperor was at all unduly 
elated by this unexampled success, that pride was destined to be 
speedily mortified and most signally chastised. On the 21st of 
October, the very day after Mack's ignominious surrender at Ulm, 
the navy of France was annihilated in the decisive battle of Tra- 
falgar, and the supreme dominion of England on the seas be- 
came established beyond all possibility of farther dispute. It is 
to the annals of Great Britain that we naturally refer for the de- 
tails of one of the proudest and most glorious pages of her history. 
We have said enofigh for the purpose of this work when we re- 
cord that out of a combined fleet of thirty-three French and Span- 
ish line-of-battle ships which Admiral Villeneuve took into action, 
twenty struck to the British at Trafalgar, and four which had es- 
caped under Admiral Dumanoir were captured a fortnight after- 
ward by Sir Richard Strahan. Twenty thousand prisoners also 
remained in the hands of the victors. 

The unfortunate Villeneuve was taken prisoner and conveyed to 
England ; being afterward released, he returned to France, where 
the emperor ordered him to be tried by a court-martial for diso- 
bedience to orders ; but the unhappy man, unable to endure the 
thought of public disgrace, committed suicide, in a fit of despair, 
before tiie trial. 

§ 4. The situation of Napoleon, who had placed himself in the 
heart of an enemy's country, between two formidable armies, each 
equal in numbers to his own, was by no means free from difficulty 
and danger. The Archdukes Charles and John had collected a 
formidable force in Hungary, while a powerful Austro-Russian 
army was advancing from Moravia. Napoleon determined to at- 
tack first the Austro-Russians, and accordingly crossed the Dan- 
ube on the 22d of November, and marched upon Brunn. The 
enemy now advanced, and manoeuvred to cut off the communica- 
tions of the French with Vienna, and to effect a junction with the 
army of the Archdukes in Hungary. Upon this. Napoleon, who 
perceived their design, retired upon Austerlitz ; the Russians were 
entrapped into the fatal error of extending their left too far, in 
order to turn the right of the French, and thus exposing them- 
selves to be attacked with overpowering force in the centre and 
flank. As he watched their movements on the 1st of December, 
the French emperor exclaimed, with confident satisfaction, '* Be- 
fore to-morrow night that army is my own !" The result fully 
verified his calculations. The decisive victory of Austerlitz 
(December 2, 1805) was the fruit of a series of scientific and mas- 
terly manoeuvres, all executed with astonishing accuracy, and all 
crowned with perfect success. The Emperors of Austria and Rus- 
sia, who had witnessed from a neighboring height the destruction 



014 THE EMPIRE. Chap, XXIX. 

of their splendid legions, saved themselves by flight, leaving in the 
hands of the French at least 20,000 prisoners, together with 120 
pieces of cannon and 40 standards, besides 10,000 slain. An ar- 
mistice was signed immediately, and the Emperor Francis solicit- 
ed a personal interview with Napoleon, in which the two sover- 
eigns arranged the preliminaries of peace. The Emperor of Rus- 
sia was permitted to retire unmolested with his army into his own 
dominions. Conferences wei'e opened at Fresburg, and a defini- 
tive treaty was concluded at that place on the 26th of December. 
Austria surrendered the whole of the Venetian* States to the king- 
dom of Italy ; ceded the Tyrol and the Vorarlberg to Bavaria, and 
her possessions in Suabia to the Electors of Wurtemburg and Ba- 
den. Francis was also constrained to recognize the elevation of 
the Electors of Bavaria and Wurtemburg to the rank of kings. 

Not the least remarkable consequence of the defeat of the coal- 
ition against Napoleon in the campaign of 1805 was the death of 
Mr. Pitt, the consistent and implacable enemy of revolutionary 
Fi'ance. This great minister expired on the 23d of January, 1806, 
prematurely exhausted by the labors and disappointments of his 
political life, and despairing of any effectual opposition to the 
French dictator on the Continent of Europe. 

§ 5. The court of Naples — at this time chiefly under the influ- 
ence of the queen, a princess of the house of Hapsburg* — had vi- 
olated its treaty of neutrality with France. Napoleon instantly 
issued a proclamation, announcing that " the house of Bourbon 
had ceased to reign in Naples." Early in February, 1806, a pow- 
ei'ful French army, commanded by Joseph "Bonaparte and Marshal 
Massena, invaded the Neapolitan territory to execute this sentence 
of dethronement ; the I'oyal family withdrew to Sicily ; and a de- 
cree of the emperor conferred the vacant crown upon his brother 
Joseph, who was immediately proclaimed. Napoleon now pro- 
ceeded to take farther steps for the consolidation of his dynasty 
by the creation of various dependent states and feudal appanages. 
His brother Louis was created King of Holland, and various prin- 
cipalities and duchies in Italy, Dalmatia, and other countries were 
conferred, under the title of " immediate fiefs of the empii'e," on 
the most eminent French generals and ministers, to descend to their 
posterity in the order of male succession. The inferior titles of 
count and baron were also distributed in lavish profusion. 

The royal family of Naples, meanwhile, did not permit the usurp- 
er Joseph to establish himself upon their throne without a strug- 
gle. The energetic Queen Caroline, supported by her two sons, 
excited a formidable insurrection in the Abruzzi and Calabria ; 

* Maria Carolina, wife of Ferdinand IV. of Naples, was a daughter of the 
Empress Maria Tlieresa. and sister of the nnfortnnate Marie Antoinette. 



A.D. 1806. CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 615 

and the English troops in Sicily, under Sir John Stuart, passed 
over into Calabria to oppose the French general Regnier. An en- 
gagement was fought near the village of Maida (July 4, 1806), in 
which, after a severe and bloody struggle, a brilliant victory re- 
mained with the English. The moral effect of the battle was im- 
portant, as it greatly raised the military reputation of the English 
on the Continent. But the scanty force at the disposal of the En- 
glish general made it impossible for him to follow up his victory 
with any hope of permanent success ; he was obliged to retire with 
his troops into Sicily ; and the Neapolitan kingdom was soon aft- 
erward reduced to a state of apparent acquiescence in the rule of 
the intrusive Joseph. 

It was during the summer of 1806 that Napoleon, by another 
stroke of unscrupulous aggression, formed a league of several states 
in the heart-of Germany, depending immediately on himself as its 
protector, which was styled the Confederation of the Rhine. Ey 
the act of confederation, signed on the 12th of July, the Kinj.s 
of Bavaria and Wurtemburg, the Grand-Dukes of Baden and 
Hesse-Darmstadt, the Archbishop of Ratisbon, and several other 
minor princes, declared themselves separated forever from the an- 
cient empire of Germany, and united with France by a strict treaty 
of offensive and defensive alliance. This proceeding amounted to 
an entire disruption of the German empire as it had descended 
from mediaeval times ; and the Emperor Francis accordingly re- 
linquished the titles of Emperor of Germany and King of the Ro- 
mans, and assumed instead that of hereditary Emperor of Austria. 

§ 6. In the English administration, Mr. Fox, the great political 
antagonist of Mr. Pitt, now held the post of minister for foreign 
affairs, and, being sincerely anxious to obtain peace with France, 
he opened communications with Napoleon for that purpose ; but 
the negotiation proved fruitless ; and the death of Mr. Fox, on the 
13th of September, 1806, put an end, for the present, to all hopes 
of an accommodation. An attempt of the same nature, on the 
part of Russia, having likewise failed, hostilities were renewed ; 
and by a rupture with Prussia, which occurred shortly afterward, 
Napoleon found himself compelled to measure swords with another 
of the great European monarchies. 

The provocations to which Prussia had been subjected since the 
peace of Presburg wei'e neither few nor trivial ; but her principal 
grounds of resentment were the emperor's treacherous conduct in 
secretly proffering the restoration of Hanover to England, and the 
erection of the Rhenish Confederation, which threatened to anni- 
hilate the ascendency of the house of Brandenburg in Northern 
Germany. Frederick had also been deeply offended by the abus- 
ive and slanderous language of the Moniteiir, in which Napoleon 



616 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXIX. 

had calumniously attacked the reputation of his beautiful and 
high-spirited queen; and as this princess Avas deservedly popular, 
the indignation of the Prussian nation was soon exasperated to 
the highest pitch.* A brilliant army of 150,000 men was organ- 
ized amid universal enthusiasm, and the Duke of Brunswick — the 
same who had commanded in the invasion of France in 1792 — 
was named generalissimo. On the 1st of October the Prussian 
minister at Paris presented a note demanding, in haughty and 
peremptory terms, that all French troops should immediately evac- 
uate Germany. But the emperor, with his accustomed prompti- 
tude, Avas by this time at the head of his army on the German 
side of the Khine ; and on the 14th of October he defeated the 
Prussian army with terrible carnage at the decisive battle of Jena. 
Upward of 20,000 prisoners (including twenty generals), 300 
pieces of artillery, and 60 standards, are said to have been the 
trophies of the day. 

Such Avas the foolhardy precipitation with which the Prussians 
had commenced the campaign, that no distinct plan or means of 
retreat had been arranged, and the consequence was that the ca- 
lamity at Jena was fatal to the monarchy. The remaining Prus- 
sian troops soon afterAvard capitulated to the conquerors. Mag- 
deburg, the strongest fortress in Prussia, surrendered on the 8th 
of November. The unfortunate King Frederick William i-etired 
to Ivonigsberg, Avhere he aAvaited the Emperor of Russia, who was 
advancing toward the Vistula at the head of his army. 

§ 7. Napoleon entered Berlin Avithout opposition, and forgetting, 
in the intoxication of his triumph, all feelings of generosity and 
moderation, he grossly insulted the royal family, plundered the 
galleries and museums, and threatened to bring down the haughty 
nobility of Prussia so Ioav that they should be compelled to beg 
their bread. It Avas during his occupation of Berlin, too, that the 
emperor fulminated his famous decrees against England (Novem- 
ber 21, 1806), by which he declared the British Isles in a state of 
blockade, interdicted all trade or intercourse with England under 
heavy penalties, confiscated all merchandise and property of every 
kind belonging to British subjects, and prohibited any Aessel com- 
ing from Britain or her colonies, or Avhich had touched at any 
English port, from entering the harbors of France. Napoleon's 
'"Continental system," as it Avas styled, was ere long discovered 
to be impracticable ; its enactments Avere constantly and notori- 
ously evaded all over Europe ; and the damage inflicted upon 

* Another outrage profoundly resented in Prussia Avas the seizure and ex- 
ecution of Palm, a bookseller of Nuremburg (then under Prussian protec- 
tion), for having published a pamphlet attacking, with some severity, the 
character and policy of Napoleon. 



A.D. 1806, 1807. BATTLE OF EYLAU. 617 

England was more than counterbalanced by the exorbitant prices 
which her merchandise commanded on the Continent. 

Napoleoni aware that the Russian emperor was concentrating 
his forces on the Vistula, advanced, in the last days of November, 
1806, from Berlin into Poland, and took up his quarters at War- 
saw. The patriotic Poles had conceived ardent hopes that the 
victor of Jena was about to deliver them from foreign oppression, 
and restore the ancient independence of their nation. Napoleon, 
in his answers to their deputations and addresses, encouraged 
these anticipations, and turned them to his own advantage by en- 
rolling four regiments of excellent Polish cavalry in his service. 
Pie took care, however, not to engage himself positively, much less 
to proclaim openly the liberty of Poland, chiefly from unAvilling- 
ness, under his present circumstances, to rouse up afresh the hos- 
tility of Austria. 

§ 8. Beningsen, who had now succeeded to the chief command 
of the Kussians, took the field in the middle of January, 1807. 
Napoleon thus found himself compelled to resume operations in 
the very depth of a rigorous winter, and on the 8th of February 
he fought the battle of Eylau, one of the most obstinately con- 
tested in the whole of his career. The French were repulsed at 
all points with tremendous slaughter. The carnage on this dread- 
ful day was almost unexampled ; near 30,000 French, and 20,000 
on the side of the Eussians, were slain. Napoleon now fell back 
upon the line of the Vistula. During the next few months he 
made incredible exertions to recruit his shattered forces, and was 
enabled to take the field in June with upward of 200,000 men. 
On the 14th, the anniversary of Marengo, a severe battle was 
fought at Friedland, in which victory once more declared in fa- 
vor of the eagles of Napoleon. The Russians, nevertheless, effect- 
ed their retreat in unbroken order, and without sacrifice either of 
artillery or baggage; and on the 19th of June Beningsen halted 
at Tilsit, on the Niemen, close to the frontier of Russia. 

The battle of Friedland decided the campaign. Wearied with 
the harassing and sanguinary strife, both emperors had become 
anxious for peace; an armistice was announced, and on the 25tli 
of June a personal interview took place between Napoleon and 
Alexander, on a raft moored in the middle of the River Niemen, 
where the terms of accommodation were discussed and adjusted. 
The Russian monarch assured Napoleon that he fully sympathized 
in his hatred of England, and was ready to support him in oppos- 
ing her ; upon Avhich Napoleon observed that in that case peace 
was, in fact, already concluded. 

The definitive treaty was signed between France and Russia on 
the 7th of July, and between Fimice and Prussia on the 9th. 



618 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXIX. 

The unfortunate PYederick William forfeited the whole of his do- 
minions between the Elbe and the Rhine, which were bestowed 
upon Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother, Avith tlae 
title of King of Westphalia. The territory which Prussia had 
acquired by the partition of Poland, in 1~72, was declared inde- 
pendent, under the name of the Grand-duchy of Warsaw, and as- 
t^igned to the Elector of Saxony, who was now advanced to the 
kingly rank. 

The Czar, on the other hand, was treated, not on the footing 
of a humbled adversary, but rather as a confidential friend and 
ally. No sacrifices were exacted from him ; but he was obliged 
to signify his adhesion to Napoleon's " Continental system," and 
to place himself at the head of a new confederacy in the north 
of Europe directed expressly against the maritime supremacy of 
England. 

§ 9. Such were the chief articles of the celebrated Peace of 
Tilsit, which may be regarded as marking the apogee of the mar- 
velous fortunes of Napoleon. Once more had he triumphantly 
dissolved a hostile coalition of some of the most powerful thrones 
of Europe ; and at this proud moment of his career, nothing re- 
mained to dispute his absolute dominion on the Continent. He 
was received, on his return to Paris, with delirious transports of 
enthusiasm ; language was ransacked and exhausted to find epi- 
thets Avorthy of him ; "Napoleon," said one of the bombastic ora- 
tors of the Council of State, "has surpassed all human history; 
he is above all admiration." The demigod before whom the 
French people thus bowed in servile worship proceeded to rivet on 
them more and more recklessly the chains of his universal despot- 
ism. One of his first measures after his return was to abolish the 
Tribunate, the only institution which retained any semblance of 
independent legislative action ; its functions were merged in those 
of the Legislative Chamber. The liberty of the press was anni- 
hilated by a censorship of unexampled rigor ; no news could be 
published Avhich had not first been inserted in the 3Ioniteur, the 
latter journal being exclusively under the control and dictation of 
the emperor. The freedom of education was destroyed by the es- 
tablishment of a National University at Paris, with subordinate 
colleges, called Lyceums, throughout the provinces. The Avhole 
system was under the mintite inspection of the government, and 
Avas so arranged as to give the utmost encouragement to "the adop- 
tion of a military career. The conscription was a tremendous in- 
strument of oppression, and was used throughout the reign of Na- 
poleon with inexorable severity. Very early in his campaigns he 
commenced the practice of calling out by anticipation, for the 
service of the current year, tffe conscripts Avho Avould not attain 



A.D. 1807. INTERFEEENCE IN THE PENINSULA. QIQ 

the legal age till the year following ; a system which, persisted in 
with reckless extravagance for a considerable period, fatally crip- 
pled the energies and drained the very life-blood of the nation. 

§ 10, We now approach one of the most momentous episodes in 
the history of France during the first empire, namely, the ill-ad- 
vised and unprincipled interference of Napoleon in the concerns 
of Portugal and Spain. Pie himself has characterized the " Span- 
ish ulcer" as one of the main proximate causes of his ruin. The 
war in the Peninsula arose out of the emperor's insane determina- 
tion to enforce his " Continental system" for the destruction of 
the commerce and manufactures of Great Britain. In Portugal, 
the immemorial and faithful ally of England, British merchandise 
at all times found a natural and ready market ; and from Portu- 
gal the traffic was extended without difficulty into Spain. It ap- 
pears, however, that under cover of excluding British commerce 
from the Peninsula, Napoleon had long entertained the design of 
overturning the existing governments both of Spain and Portugal, 
and converting those kingdoms into appendages of the French 
empire. He gave the first public intimation of his new enterprise 
by summoning the Prince Kegent of Portugal to close the ports 
of the kingdom against British vessels, to arrest all British sub- 
jects, and to confiscate all British property, threatening war as 
the alternative. The regent obeyed, though not without hesita- 
tion and remonstrance : Napoleon took advantage of his natural 
reluctance to sacrifice the alliance of England, and proclaiming in 
the Moniteur, in his usual style of unmeasured arrogance, that 
"the house of Braganza had ceased to reign in Europe," he or- 
dered General Junot instantly to invade Portugal with 30,000 
men, and take possession of Lisbon. The prince regent now 
sought, with his family, the protection of the British flag in the 
Tagus, and sailed for South America, to fix the seat of his gov- 
ernment in Brazil. The invaders entered Lisbon on the 30th of 
November, 1807. 

Napoleon's conduct throughout these transactions was marked 
by the most gross and deliberate duplicity and treachery. In or- 
der to the full execution of his schemes, it was necessary to obtain 
a secure military footing in Spain. That unhappy country, at this 
time under the nominal rule of the imbecile Charles IV., was, in 
fact, absolutely governed by Don Manuel Godoy, " Prince of the 
Peace," whom the favor and licentious passion of the queen had 
raised from the station of a private in the royal guards to the 
highest offices and honors of the state. The internal condition 
of Spain under his administration was degraded and melancholy 
in the extreme ; its military resources were utterly neglected ; 
added to this, the royal family was torn by scandalous domestic 



620 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXIX. 

dissension. The heir-apparent, Ferdinand, prince of Asturias, was 
bitterly jealous of the upstart favorite Godoy ; and this continu- 
ally placed the prince in direct opposition both to the king and 
the queen. Ferdinand even wrote privately to Napoleon to en- 
treat his forcible interference to remove Godoy from power. Mean- 
time the emperor negotiated with Godoy for a combined aggres- 
sion by France and Spain on the defenseless kingdom of Portugal; 
and by the secret treaty of Fontainebleau, signed October 27th, 
1807, it was agreed that the kingdom of Portugal should be par- 
titioned into three territories ; the northern provinces to be given 
to the King of Etruria,* the Algarves and the Alemtejo to Manuel 
Godoy, while the central districts, including the city of Lisbon, 
were to remain in the hands of France until the conclusion of a 
general peace. In pursuance of this iniquitous compact, Junot, 
as we have seen, made himself master of Lisbon ; but now Na- 
poleon gradually withdrew the mask which had covered his pre- 
paratory movements. On the 1st of February, 1808, Junot pro- 
claimed that Portugal was henceforth to be governed as a con- 
quered kingdom in the name of the Emperor of the French ; and 
a French army took possession of the northern provinces of Spain. 
Shortly afterward, on the 1st of March, Napoleon informed the 
court of Madrid that the state of aflFairs in Europe made it neces- 
sary that these territories should be annexed to the French em- 
pire, and proposed to assign Portugal to Spain in compensation. 
Murat was at the same time appointed the emperor's lieutenant in 
Spain, and proceeded to the capital to assume the supreme com- 
mand of the Fi'ench armies. * 

§ 11. Napoleon's design to seize the crown of the Spanish Bour- 
bons was now too evident to be mistaken ; and Godoy, in conster- 
nation and bewilderment, advised the king and queen to follow the 
example of the Portuguese regent, and cross the Atlantic to secure 
a safe retreat in the American colonies. The scheme, however, 
transpired ; an insurrection broke out in consequence at Aranjuez 
on the evening of the 17th of March, and the rioters forcibly pre- 
vented the royal family from quitting the palace. The fallen 
favorite was committed to prison to await his trial. The terrified 
Charles now announced, by a proclamation of the 19th of March, 
that in consequence of his age and increasing infirmities, he had 
abdicated the crown in favor of his dearly-beloved son and heir 
the Prince of the Asturias ; and Ferdinand VII. was immediately 
proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies, amid enthusiastic de- 
monstrations of popular joy. Meanwhile Murat was hastening 
toward Madrid, which he entered on the 23d. He carefully ab- 

* Louis, prince of Parma, married to Maria Louisa, a daughter of Charles 
IV. of Spain. His Italian dominions had hitely been ceded to Najioleon. 



A.D. 1808. AFFAIRS OF SPAIN. 621 

stained, however, from recognizing the title of the new sovereign ; 
and Ferdinand was persuaded to set out to the frontier to meet 
the French emperor, who, it was represented, would thus be in- 
duced to acknowledge him as rightful King of Spain. Not finding 
Napoleon at Burgos, the infatuated prince continued his journey, 
crossed the frontier, and on the 20th of April entered Bayonne, 
thus delivering himself blindfold into the power of his insidious 
foe. Napoleon had in the mean time received from the old king 
* a solemn protest against Avhat he called the illegal compulsion 
which had forced from him the act of abdication ; and according- 
ly it was notified to Ferdinand, immediately on his arrival, that 
he must at once renounce all pretensions to the Spanish crown, 
and commit himself unconditionally to the generosity and honor 
of the French emperor. Godoy was now liberated from prison 
by order of Murat, and traveled rapidly to Bayonne ; and on the 
30th of April, Charles IV. and his consort Maria Louisa also 
made their appearance at that place, and were received with all 
accustomed honors as King and Queen of Spain. A scene of dis- 
graceful altercation took place among this unnatural family in the 
presence of Napoleon, after which both father and son (the latter 
not without extreme reluctance, and under the pressure of alarm- 
ing menaces) resigned all their rights to the throne of Spain into 
the hands of their " deai'ly-beloved friend and ally, the Emperor 
of the French." Napoleon next went through the farce of con- 
sulting the Council of Castile and other constituted bodies at 
Madrid as to the disposal of this splendid heritage. They nom- 
inated, by his dictation, Joseph Bonaparte, then King of Naples ; 
the new monarch set out immediately to take possession of his 
dominions, and made his public entry into the capital on the 20th 
of July. 

The indignation of the Spanish people on the news of these por- 
tentous events blazed forth in one simultaneous fiame throughout 
the kingdom. The whole country rose en masse against the hated 
intruders ; executive juntas were appointed in all the principal 
towns, of which that of Seville was declared the supreme junta; 
and " war to the death" was proclaimed against the French until 
the Bourbon family should be restored to tlie throne, and the in- 
dependence of the nation re-established. Dreadful massacres, not 
only of the French, but even of Spaniards supposed to be their 
partisans, took place at Valencia, Cadiz, and throughout the south- 
ern provinces. 

The events of the first campaign wei'e unfavorable to the French. 
Dupont Avas surrounded by General Castanos in the wild passes 
of Andalusia, and compelled to lay down his arms, with 20,000 
men, at Baylen, on the 20th of July. The heroic defense of Sara- 



622 THE EMPIRE. CHAr. XXIX. 

gossa carried the enthusiasm and confidence of the Spaniards to 
the highest pitch. This city, which was unprovided witli regular 
fortifications, sustained a vigorous siege of two months, and the 
French were finally obliged to retreat, sacrificing the greater part 
of their artillery, and with a force fearfully diminished. The 
usurper Joseph found himself unable to maintain possession of the 
capital, and retired in some confusion beyond the Ebro. 

§ 12. The Portuguese, in the mean while, displayed an equally 
vigorous and determined spirit of resistance to their French op- 
pressors. The population of Oporto rose tumultuously, declared 
for the house of Braganza, abolished the French government, and 
appointed a provisional junta. The whole of the north of Portu- 
gal joined the insurrectionary movement, and it spread rapidly 
into the central and southern provinces. The British govern- 
ment, upon the news of the revolt, dispatched an armament under 
Sir Arthur Wellesley to the coast of Portugal, and that general 
gnined a decisive victory at Yimieka over the French army, com- 
manded by Junot in person (August 21, 1808). This victory was 
followed by the " Convention of Cintra,"' signed on the 30th of 
August, by which the French commander agreed to evacuate Port- 
ugal immediately with his whole army.* The English triumph- 
antly took possession of Lisbon on the 12th of September, and by 
the 30th not a single French soldier remained in Portugal. 

Shortly after these transactions Napoleon proceeded to Erfurt, 
where he held a second meeting with the Emperor of Pussia. 
Alexander gave his sanction to the flagrant usurpation of Napoleon 
in Spain, and promised to support him with 150,000 men in case 
hostilities should again break out between France and Austria. 
The French Emperor, in return, engaged to make no opposition 
to the annexation of the Danubian principalities to Eussia. 

§ 13. The British cabinet had now determined to enter serious- 
ly into the Peninsular struggle ; the army in Portugal was largely 
re-enforced, and was placed under the orders of Sir John Moore. 
Napoleon now took the command in person of his troops in Spain, 
defeated the three Spanish armies which opposed his progress, and 
entered Madrid on the 4th of December. The terrified junta fled 
to Seville ; the feeble relics of the patriot levies dispersed in all 
directions ; and with the exception of the British army under 
Moore, it seemed as if all Spain Avere about to submit to the do- 
minion of the conqueror. 

The situation of Sir John Moore upon the defeat of the Spanish 
armies with which he had designed to co-operate was one of ex- 
treme embarrassment and peril. He had at first determined to 

* Foi' fartlier details of this camimign, see SttideiH's Iliime (Harpers' ed.), 
p. 703, 70-i. 



A.D. 1809, SECOND WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 623 

retreat into Portugal ; but, being encouraged by the representations 
of Mr. Frere, the British resident at Madrid, he was induced to 
hazard a movement in advance, and marched from Salamanca to- 
ward Valladolid. Keceiving, however, the alarming intelligence 
that the French armies, in overpowering masses, were moving from 
all dii'ections to suiTound him, and that Napoleon himself, with 
50,000 men, was hastening toward him by forced marches, a re- 
treat into Galicia became inevitable, and was commenced imme- 
diately. It was conducted at first with steadiness and regularity ; 
but beyond Astorga symptoms of insubordination appeared ; dis- 
cipline gave way before the multiplied hardships of a precipitate 
retreat, in the depth of winter, through a rugged mountainous 
country, and the condition of the army became deplorable in the 
extreme. Napoleon intrusted to Soult, duke of Dalmatia, the 
task of " driving the English leopard into the sea ;" he himself 
was suddenly recalled northward by news of an impending rupture 
with the Emperor of Austria, and quitted the army on the 3d of 
January, 1809. The English, after dreadful suffering, reached at 
length the heights above the harbor of Corunna, and here Soult 
made a desperate effort to interrupt or prevent their embarkation. 
The battle, fought on the 16th of January, 1809, was sustained 
by the British with unflinching valor in spite of greatly superior 
numbers, and tei'minated to the disadvantage of the French. Sir 
John Moore, however, was struck by a cannon-shot in the hottest 
of the action, and met an honorable and glorious death in the 
very arms of victory. The English now embarked for their own 
country, and the whole of Galicia immediately afterward submit- 
ted to the French. 

§ 14. The relations of Napoleon with the imperial cabinet of 
Vienna had long been cold and unsatisfactory ; and from the very 
commencement of the troubles in Spain, Austria had been active- 
ly engaged in pressing forward military preparations of all kinds, 
with the evident intention of making a renewed attack upon 
France at a moment when her best troops were occupied in a dis- 
tant and sanguinary war. The Austrian levies had been carried, 
by extraordinary exertions, to an amount exceeding 300,000 men, 
exclusive of the landwehr or militia, and the Hungarians, who 
mustered near 200,000 more. Those of Napoleon, even with his 
utmost efforts, and Avith the anticipated conscription of the year 
1810, scarcely reached 250,000. Yet, though, taken in a meas- 
ure by surprise and at considerable disadvantage, his genius, never 
more signally conspicuous th^n in the hard-fought campaign of 
1809, triumphed eventually over an enormous disparity of numer- 
ical force. 

The Archduke Charles, generalissimo of the imperial armies, 



G24 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXIX. 

commenced liostilities on the 9th of April, 1809, by crossmg the 
Inn and invading Bavaria, the ally of France. Napoleon arrived 
at Donauwerth on the 17th, and on the 22d gained a decisive vic- 
tory over the Austrians at Eckmiihl. The archduke fell back to 
Ixatisbon, but that town was stormed by the French, and the Aus- 
trians then crossed the Danube, and commenced a retreat into 
l^ohemia. The right bank of the Danube and the great road to 
Vienna were thus abandoned to Napoleon, and on the 13th of 
May he for the second time entered Vienna as a conqueror. 

During these occurrences in the heart of the Austrian empire, 
the Archduke John had invaded the Italian kingdom, but was 
vigorously opposed by the Viceroy Eugene Beauharnais, who, aft- 
er driving the Austrians out of Italy, united his forces with the 
grand army of Napoleon before Vienna on the 26th of May. 

The brave mountaineers of the Tyrol, upon the first signal of 
hostilities, had energetically shaken off the yoke of Bavaria, and 
elected as their leader Andrew Hofer, a man of humble birth, but 
of pre-eminent courage, intelligence, and patriotism. Their en- 
thusiastic attachment to the house of Hapsburg, added to their 
deep-seated religious fervor and devotion, gave a very peculiar 
character to the contest v\^ich ensued. The French and Bava- 
rians Avere furiously attacked on all sides by these warlike peas- 
ants, in the towns, in the villages, in the precipitous gorges of the 
Tyrolese Alps, and were cut down and massacred by thousands 
without mercy. Innsbruck was captured by the patriots ; and 
though Marshal Lefebvre, after the battle of Eckmiihl, succeeded 
in regaining possession of the city, he was soon aftei-ward defeat- 
ed and compelled to evacuate it. In short, if the cause of the 
Austi-ian empire had depended exclusively on the zeal and exer- 
tions of the simple-minded population of the Tyrol, the independ- 
ence of Germany might have been fully and permanently secured 
in the campaign of 1809. 

§ 15. An interval of some weeks elapsed after the battle of 
Eckmiihl before active hostilities were resumed b*etween the Arch- 
duke Charles and Napoleon. The Austrian general at length ap- 
proached the Danube, a few miles below Vienna, with an army 
re-enforced to 80,000 men, and Napoleon immediately made prep- 
arations for crossing the river in order to give him battle on the 
opposite bank. A series of pontoon bridges was constructed at a 
point where the Danube is divided into four streams by three con- 
siderable islands ; and on the 20th of May, the corps of Massena, 
40,000 strong, established itself on tlip left bank, halfway between 
the villages of Aspern and Essling. The ai'chduke vigorously as- 
saulted this position on the 21st with his whole force, and a gen- 
eral action ensued, which was fouglit with unexampled obstinacy 



A.D. 1809. BATTLE OF WAGRAM. 625 

on both sides, and resulted in a more decided check to the arms 
of Napoleon than any they had liitherto sustained. The posses- 
sion of AsPERN, which both parties regarded as essentially import- 
ant, was contested with the utmost desperation ; the village was 
taken and recovered several times, with frightful carnage, and at 
the close of the day remained in the hands of the Austrians. The 
battle recommenced early on the 23d, with undiminished fury; 
but the emperor at length found it necessary to order a retreat. 
His losses in these two tremendous conflicts are said to have 
amounted to near 30,000 men ; those of the Austrians to 20,000. 
The fiery Lannes, duke of Montebello, was mortally wounded by 
a cannon-shot, and expired a few days afterward, to the extreme 
grief of Napoleon and the whole French army. 

On the 4th of July the French army, having received large re- 
enforcements, and now numbering 150,000 men, once more cross- 
ed to the northern bank of the Danube, a short distance lower 
down the stream. Two days afterward (July 6th) was fought the 
sanguinary battle of Wagkam, on a plain about four miles from 
the Danube. Napoleon gained a decisive victory, but the losses 
of the victorious army, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, fell not 
far short of that inflicted on the vanquished. Twenty-five thou- 
sand men were probably put hors de combat on the side of the 
French. The result of this battle was the definitive treaty be- 
tween Austria and France, signed at Schonbrunn on the 14th of 
October. The terms to which Francis now submitted were even 
more galling and humiliating than those of the peace of Presburg. 
He surrendered to France the provinces of Carniola, Friuli, Cro- 
atia, and part of Dalmatia, with the sea-port of Trieste.* Salz- 
burg, with its territory, was ceded to Bavaria, which also kept 
possession of the Tyrol. The greater part of the province of Gal- 
icia was divided between the Emperor of Russia and the King of 
Saxony. Lastly (and this must have been the most painful sac- 
rifice of all), the Austrian emperor formally acknowledged the 
rights of all the sovereigns created by Napoleon, adopted the pro- 
hibitory system against British commerce, and engaged to hold no 
friendly intercourse with England. This ignoble conclusion of a 
campaign in which her arms, though on the whole unsuccessful, 
had so amply vindicated the honor, courage, and military strength 
of the nation, had a serious effect in weakening the influence of 
Austria in Europe. Germany, accordingly, became once more 
sullenly quiescent; and the hope of finally overthrowing the tyr- 
anny of French domination slumbered until again aroused by a 
more favorable conjuncture of affairs. 

* These territories were formed into a new and separate government of 
the French emuire, under the title of tlie lUyrian jjrovinces. 

Dd 



626 THE EMPIRE. Chap, XXIX. 

It was during the Austrian campaign of 1809 that Napoleon 
consummated the rupture with the See of Rome which had com- 
menced in the preceding year, on account of the Pope's refusal to 
concur in the Continental system, and to recognize Murat* as 
King of Naples. A decree, dated from Schonbrunn on the 17th 
of May, annexed the Pontifical states to the French empire ; as- 
signing to the deposed Pope an annual revenue of two millions of 
francs, with the enjoyment of his palaces at Rome. Pius VII., 
with unshaken firmness, forthwith responded by a bull of excom- 
munication against Napoleon, emperor of the French, and all his 
adherents and counselors. General Miollis, the French command- 
ant in Rome, now caused the palace of the Quirinal to be sur- 
rounded at midnight, forced the aged and helpless Pope into a car- 
riage, and transported him under a guard across the Alps to Gren- 
oble. His residence was at last fixed by Napoleon at Fontaine- 
bleau, where, so far as his personal treatment was concerned, he 
seems to have had no ground of complaint. Steadily refusing, 
however, to remove the sentence of excommunication, he was de- 
tained in captivity until the fall of Napoleon. 

§ 16. The French armies in Spain, after the calamitous retreat 
of Sir John Moore, continued their operations for the suppression 
of the rebellion and the final subjugation of the country. In 
April, 1809, Soult proceeded to invade Portugal, and occupied 
Oporto. The English government now sent a -large re-enforce- 
ment toTjisbon, and appointed Sir Arthur Wellesley to the chief 
command. Their choice was soon justified by a series of bold and 
brilliant movements, by which Soult was dislodged in confusion 
from Oporto, the Douro having been crossed in open day in the 
very face of his army. The French marshal made a precipitate 
retreat into Galicia, and the English army then turned southward 
against Marshal Victor. King Joseph, in alarm, marched from 
Madrid with all the troops he could collect, and, attended by Mar- 
shal Jourdan and General Sebastiani, joined Victor's army. The 
English now united with the Spaniards under Cuesta; a great 
battle was fought on the 28th of July at Talavera. The con- 
test was obstinate ; but in the end the French were repulsed in 
all parts of the field, and retii-ed in disorder behind the River Al- 
berche, with a loss of upward of 7000 men. Tlie loss of the Brit- 
ish considerably exceeded 5000. Sir Arthur Wellesley, however, 
upon the intelligence that Marshals Soult, Ney, and Mortier were 
rapidly advancing against him, commenced a retrograde move- 
ment almost immediately after the battle, and recrossed the Tagus. 
The English Avere permitted to continue their reti-eat, without mol- 

* He had been advanced by Napoleon to the vacant throne of Naples on 
the elevation of Joseph to that of Spain. 



A.D. 1810. NAPOLEON'S SECOND MARRIAGE. 627 

estation, to the frontier of Portugal ; and toward the middle of 
December, Wellesley (created Viscount Wellington after the vic- 
tory of Talavera) distributed his army in winter quarters between 
Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo. Meanwhile the remainder of the 
campaign had been decidedly favorable to the French. Saragossa, 
after a second siege, sustained with not less devoted heroism than 
the first, had surrendered to General St. Cyr some months earlier ; 
and, on the whole, the aspect of the patriot cause in Spain, at the 
close of 1809, was such as to excite the gloomiest apprehensions 
among the friends of liberty. 

§ 17. Not long after his return to Paris from the campaign of 
Wagram, Napoleon resolved to execute a design Avhich he had for 
some time meditated, of separating from his faithful consort Jose- 
phine, and contracting a second marriage, which might furnish a 
lineal heir to his throne. A sincei'e and warm attachment exist- 
ed between the imperial pair, and the final decision of Napoleon 
was not taken without deep regret ; but, unhappily for himself, a 
mistaken notion that the sacrifice was indispensable to the inter- 
ests of his dynasty and of France was suffered to prevail over his 
private feelings. The empress, after a burst of agonizing grief, 
gave her reluctant consent to a measure which destroyed her hap- 
piness. The dissolution of the marriage was pronounced by a se~ 
natus consultuin on the IStli of December, ratified by the ecclesi- 
astical court of Paris. The title and rank of empress were se- 
cured to Josephine for life, together with an annual income of 
two millions of francs. The emperor now demanded the hand of 
the Archduchess Maria Louisa of Austria. The Emperor Fran- 
cis, helpless and dependent, dared not refuse ; and the contract 
was soon signed and sealed which was to unite a daughter of the 
proud race of Hapsburg with the low-born soldier of fortune who 
swayed the destinies of France. The marriage was celebrated by 
proxy on the 11th of March, 1810 ; and the new Empress of the 
French, an amiable and interesting princess of nineteen, arrived 
at the chateau of Compiegne on the 28th, where the emperor re- 
ceived her. The nuptial ceremony was repeated in the chapel of 
the Tuileries on the 2d of April. The Austrian match, however, 
found no favor in the eyes of the French nation. It was regarded 
as an abandonment, on the part of the heir of the Kevolution, of 
the principles which had raised him to supreme power ; it was 
even denounced as a snare spread for him by the implacable en- 
mity of the coalition. Josephine, the graceful and warm-hearted 
partner of Napoleon's rising fortunes, had been universally popu- 
lar ; her successor was an object of indifference ; and, with regard 
to all that constitutes the real strength and glory of a sovereign. 
Napoleon was decidedly a loser by his splendid alliance with the 
descendant of the Ca?sars. 



628 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXIX. 

The marriage was followed in due time by the event which the 
emperor so ardently desired. On the 20th of March, 1811, Maria 
Louisa gave birth to a prince, who received the august title of 
King of Eome.* Extraordinary rejoicings took place on this oc- 
casion. It seemed an auspicious pledge of the stability of the im- 
perial dynasty, and of the marvelous system of national aggran- 
dizement with which it was identified. It was hoped, too, that 
by this change in his domestic circumstances Napoleon might be 
diverted from the restless and insatiable pursuit of military glory, 
and that France might thus look forwai'd to a period of repose and 
refreshment, which was anxiously desired by the whole country. 
But, unfortunately, the emperor had, in the madness of triumph- 
ant ambition, scattered so thickly the seeds of discord throughout 
Europe, that their eventual fruits were certain and inevitable. 
Even at this moment, when his star seemed to have attained its 
culminating point of splendor, it had already begun to decline ; 
measures were even then in preparation, the ultimate results of 
which were to subvert and scatter to the winds the gigantic fabric 
of his power ; a catastrophe already foreseen and predicted by 
more than one of the sagacious statesmen who shared his most 
intimate counsels. 

* Eome, at the time of the annexation of the papal states, had been des- 
ignated the second city of the empire. 




Tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE EMPIRE CONTINUED. II. FROM THE MARRIAGE OF NAPOLEON WITH 
MARIA LOUISA TO HIS ABDICATION. A^.D. 1810-1814. 

§ 1. Annexation of Holland and of the Hanse Towns ; Relations of Napoleon 
with Sweden. § 2. Campaigns of 1810, 1811, and 1812 in Portugal and 
Spain ; Battle of Busaco ; Retreat of JNIassena ; Battle of Albuera ; Fall 
of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz ; Battle of Salamanca; Ocenpation of 
Madrid by the English ; Retreat of Lord Wellington from Burgos. § 3. 
Rupture between Napoleon and the Emperor of Russia ; Invasion of Pom- 
erania ; the Russian Campaign ; Napoleon occupies Smolensko ; Battle 
of Borodino or the Moskowa ; the French enter Moscow. § 4. Conflagra- 
tion of Moscow ; disastrous Retreat of the French ; Battle of Krasnoi. 
§ 5. Passage of the Beresina ; Napoleon's Flight from Smorgoni ; fearful 
Losses of the French Ai'my. § 6. Prussia declares War against France ; 
Campaign in Germany ; Battles of Lutzen and Bautzen ; Armistice. § 7. 
Prince Metternich's Interview with Napoleon ; Austria joins the Allies ; 
Battle of Dresden ; Death of Moreau. § 8. Decisive Defeat of the Frencli 
at Leipsic; Battle of Hanau; Retreat to the Rhine. § 9. Battle of Yit- 
toria ; the French expelled from Spain ; Battles of the Pyrenees ; Storm- 
ing of San Sebastian ; Fall of Pampeluna ; Wellington enters France. 
§ 10. Opposition of the Legislative Cliamber to the Emperor ; its Disso- 
lution. § 11. Campaign of 1814 in France ; the Allies march npon Par- 
is. § 12. Defeat of Marmont and Mortier under the Walls of Paris ; Ca- 
pitulation of Paris; Entrance of the Allied Sovereigns and Ai'mies; the 



630 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

Senate proclaims the Deposition of Napoleon. § 13. Napoleon at Fon- 
tainebleau; his Abdication; Treaty of Fontainebleau. § 14. Campaign 
in the South of France ; Battles of Orthez and Toulouse ; Sortie from Ba- 
yonne ; Close of the War; Napoleon embarks at Frejus for Elba. 

§ 1 . Various occurrences took place in the course of the years 
1810 and 1811 — a season of comparative tranquillity — which ex- 
ercised a sinister inifluence on the fortunes of Napoleon, and proved 
that his rule was utterly incompatible with the maintenance of le- 
gitimate authority and the just balance of power in Europe. The 
Continental system, upon which the emperor insisted with a te- 
nacity amounting to infatuation, was a yoke which became more 
and more insupportable. Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland, a 
humane and enlightened prince, refused to sacrifice the interests 
of his subjects — a purely commercial nation — to his brother's ru- 
inous caprice. Thereupon Marshal Oudinot was dispatched into 
the Netherlands with 20,000 men, and took military possession of 
the whole country, fixing his head-quarters at Amsterdam. Louis, 
upon this, signed an act of abdication in favor of his son, and then 
retired into the Austrian dominions. On gaining a place of safety, 
he issued a strongly- worded and damaging protest against the over- 
bearing tyranny of Napoleon, and exposed the preposterous injus- 
tice and impolicy of the Continental blockade. Napoleon, dis- 
regarding tlie rights of his nephew, annexed Holland, by a decree 
of the 10th of July, 1810, to the French empire, of which it form- 
ed nine additional departments. Amsterdam was declared the 
third city of the empire. The whole of this transaction redound^ 
ed greatly to the discredit of the emperor, and was scarcely kss 
unfavorably viewed in France than in the rest of Europe. 

In order to complete his prohibitive measures against English 
commerce, Napoleon, toward the close of the same year, summa- 
rily seized and added to his dominions the Hanseatic towns — 
Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck — and the whole of the northern 
coast of Germany between the Ems and the Elbe. This wanton 
act of spoliation raised up fresh and powerful enemies against Na- 
poleon's throne. Besides mutilating the kingdom of Westphalia 
and the grand-duchy of Berg, it dispossessed the Duke of Olden- 
burg of nearly the whole of his dominions — an injury keenly re- 
sented by the Emperor of Russia, who was connected with the 
house of Oldenburg both by blood and marriage. Alexander not 
only protested against the violence, but issued a ukase which au- 
thorized the importation of British colonial produce into Russia, 
while vipon various articles of French manufacture, and especially 
on the Avines of that country, it imposed a duty so heavy as to 
amount to a prohibition. 

Another source of uneasiness to Napoleon Avas the doubtful 



A.D. 1810. CAMPAIGN IN PORTUGAL. 631 

State of his relations with Sweden. Upon the death of the Prince 
of Holstein, heir to the throne of that kingdom, the Swedish diet, 
wishing to take a step which might conciliate and gratify the 
French emperor, elected Marshal Bernadotte, prince of Ponte 
Corvo, to fill the vacant dignity of prince royal. The choice was 
a wise one for the interests of Sweden, but it by no means gave 
satisfaction at the Tuileries. Although Bernadotte had acqui- 
esced in Napoleon's government, and had served him with zeal 
and ability, no really cordial feeling had ever existed between 
them. No opposition, however, Avas made to his elevation ; and 
Bernadotte accordingly took his departure for Stockholm in Sep- 
tember, 1810. But Napoleon soon found that the new crown 
prince was by no means disposed to act the part of a dependent 
satrap of France ; he made no secret of his reluctance to enforce 
the Continental system, and it was not long before Swedish Pom- 
erania became one of the principal depots for English merchandise. 

§ 2. The cessation of hostilities in other parts of Europe ena- 
bled Napoleon to press the war with renewed energy in the Pen- 
insula, and in the campaign of 1810 he made a vigorous effort to 
recover possession of Portugal. Marshal Massena, prince of Ess- 
ling, was named to the chief command of the French forces des- 
tined for this service, amounting to upward of 80,000 men ; his 
first operation was the siege of Ciudad Eodrigo, which, after a 
terrible bombardment, capitulated on the 10th of July. The 
French next became masters of Almeida, one of the strongest 
frontier -fortresses of Portugal ; whereupon Wellington, whose 
army numbered only 28,000 British troops and about 25,000 un- 
tried and badly-disciplined Portuguese, determined to retreat be- 
fore the vastly superior force of his opponent, and to make a stand 
for the defense of the capital in the formidable position of Torres 
Vedras, which had been previously fixed upon and strongly forti- 
fied for the purpose. lie was closely followed by the French, 
who were repulsed in an attack upon the British army at Busaco, 
not far from Coimbra, on the 27th of September. "Wellington 
leisurely continued his retreat toward Lisbon, and at length es- 
tablished his whole army in the almost impregnable lines of Tor- 
res Vedras* on the 9th of October. This brought the campaign 
to a conclusion ; Massena, after several partial and unsuccessful 
attacks upon the British intrenchments, took up a position at 
Santarem, where he remained for some months awaiting re-en- 
forcements. Such were the situations occupied by the rival ar- 
mies in Portugal during the winter of 1810. 

Massena, seeing the hopelessness of any attack upon the posi- 

* For fi description of tlicsc lines, sec the Student's Hume (Harpers' ed.), 
p. 708, 709. 



G32 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

tion of Torres Vedras, and finding that his army was suffering 
terrible privations from the scarcity of provisions, at length de- 
termined on commencing a retreat into Spain ; he broke up from 
his cantonments at Santarem on the 5th of March, 1811, and was 
instantly followed by his watchful antagonist, who pressed on his 
steps with the utmost energy. Massena conducted this celebrated 
retreat with a consummate skill, which reflects the highest credit 
on his talents as a tactician and commander, but at the same time 
disgraced his name by systematic and ruthless cruelty toward the 
unfortunate Portuguese. Nothing more horrible is to be found 
throughout the annals of modern warfare than the account of the 
devastation and enormities of all kinds committed by the French 
in their whole line of march from Santarem to Ciudad Rodrigo.* 

The British army now blockaded the fortress of Almeida, while, 
at the same time, a powerful division, detached under Marshal 
Beresford, commenced the siege of Badajoz. Massena, resolving 
to strike a blow for the relief of Almeida, advanced from Ciudad 
Rodrigo on the 2d of May ; and on the 5th a battle, one of the 
most stubbornly contested of the whole Peninsular war, was fought 
at the village of Fuentes de Onor, in which the French were de- 
feated with a loss of upward of 3000 men. The marshal forth- 
with recrossed the frontier into Spain, and reached Salamanca. 
Shortly afterward he was succocded in the command by Marshal 
Marmont, duke of Ragusa. 

The siege of Badajoz had not been long in progress when Soult, 
duke of Dalmatia, hastened from Seville to its succor, and the ar- 
my under Marshal Bei'esford took post at the village of Albuera, 
where a pitched battle ensued on the 16th of May. The British 
were again victorious ; but the price paid for this victory, consid- 
ering the numbers of the troops engaged, was prodigious ; nearly 
7000 fell on the side of the allies, while the French are computed 
to have lost at least 8000 men. Nor did the victors finally effect 
the object for which this tremendous sacrifice of human life had 
been incurred. Intelligence having reached Lord Wellington that 
a fresh body of troops Avas on its march from Salamanca to re- 
enforce the army under Soult. it was judged prudent to abandon 
for the present any farther operations against Badajoz. The En- 
glish army decamped from before the place on the 18th of June, 
and re-entered Portugal. 

l^oi'd Wellington commenced the campaign of 1812 by the cap- 
ture of Ciudad Rodrigo on the 19th of January, and of Badajoz 
on the 6th of April. The capture of these strong fortresses was 
attended Avith heavy loss ; but the possession of them formed an 
excellent base for Wellington's farther offensive operations, and 
* Napier, Peninsular Wai\ vol. ii., p. 289. 



A.D. 1812. BATTLE OF SALAMANCA. 633 

contributed not a little to the final decision of the Peninsular 
struggle. He now advanced into the interior of Spain, and ap- 
proached the French army under Marmont. The great battle of 
Salamanca, in which the English gained a decisive victory, was 
fought on the 22d of July, 1812. The French lost at least 8000 
killed and wounded, while 7000 prisoners, with two eagles and 
eleven guns, remained in the hands of the victors. The loss of 
the allied army exceeded 5000 men. 

The immediate result of the battle of Salamanca was the occu- 
pation of Madrid by the allies. Wellington now advanced north- 
ward and laid siege to Burgos ; but, finding that the enemy's 
troops were concentrating against him from all parts of Spain, he 
relinquished the attempt on the 21st of October, and commenced 
his retreat. Soult was now^ named to the chief command in Spain, 
and pursued the British army with a combined force exceeding 
80,000 men. AVellington continued his retrograde movement, 
during which his army suffered fearfully, chiefly from their own 
neglect of discipline and the inclemency of the weather ; he at 
length reached Ciudad Rodrigo, and there distributed his harassed 
troops in winter cantonments. King Joseph re-entered Madrid ; 
but the whole of the Peninsula south of the capital was irrecov- 
erably lost to the French. 

§ 3. Ever since the campaign of Wagram in 1809 Napoleon had 
become convinced that a rupture between himself and the Emper- 
or of Russia Avas ultimately inevitable. Various angry communi- 
cations which passed between Paris and St. Petersburg during the 
latter months of 1811 clearly portended the approach of the final 
explosion. Still, however, Alexander hesitated to embark de- 
cidedly in a struggle which he well knew must involve such mo- 
mentous issues to his own empire and to the whole civilized world. 
The crisis was at length precipitated by the hostile influence of 
Sweden, a power which the rash and overbearing policy of Napo- 
leon had converted from an ally into a bitter and determined foe. 
On the 27th of January, 1812, without any previous declaration 
of war, a Fi-ench army of 20,000 men under Davoust invaded 
Swedish Pomerania. This act of aggression of course placed 
France and Sweden in undisguised hostility ; and Bernadotte lost 
no time in addressing himself to Alexander of Russia, who at 
length determined to appeal to arms. 

On the 9th of May Napoleon quitted Paris to place himself at 
the head of his grand army, which was already in full march upon 
the Vistulff. He sojourned for some weeks at Dresden, surround- 
ed by a gorgeous throng of crowned heads (including the Emperor 
and Empress of Austria and the King of Prussia), ministers, mar- 
shals, and other titled satellites, Avhom he entertained in a style 

D D 2 



634 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

of unprecedented splendor. At length, on learning from General 
Lauriston, whom he had dispatched with a final proposition to 
Alexander, that all hope of accommodation was at an end, Napo- 
leon set out from Dresden for Konigsberg and Dantzic, and or- 
dered the whole of his enormous armed hosts to advance upon 
the Niemen. " Russia," he exclaimed, "is dragged on by fatali- 
ty ; let her destinies be accomplished !" 

The preparations of Napoleon for this perilous expedition were 
on a scale of stupendous magnitude. According to the most mod- 
erate computation, not less than 450,000 men, of various nations, 
were arrayed under his standards. The whole cavalry force Avas 
commanded by Murat, king of Naples. The train of artillery 
amounted to twelve hundred pieces of cannon. 

Napoleon i*eached Wilna, the capital of Lithuania, on the 28th 
of June, and halted there for seventeen days — a delay which, how- 
ever rendered necessary by the difficulty of providing for the sus- 
tenance of such prodigious masses of troops, had a ruinous effect 
on the ultimate issue of the campaign. On the 16th of July he 
put his army in motion, and advanced to Witepsk, where at first 
he seems to have thought of terminating the campaign for the 
year, an idea which was warmly supported by several of his mar- 
shals.* But the inextinguishable ardor of ambition soon returned, 
and, in spite of the openly expressed discontent and opposition of 
some of his best friends, he refused to sheathe his sword till he 
had struck a decisive blow for the possession of the ancient cap- 
ital of Kussia. " Peace," he exclaimed, " awaits us beneath the 
walls of Moscow!" Quitting Witepsk on the 13th of August, 
the emperor concentrated his whole army for an attack on Smo- 
lensko. That city was assaulted fiei'cely on the 17th, and was 
defended with desperate valor ; the slaughter was terrible on both 
sides, and at nightfall the assailants had entirely failed to force 
an entrance into the place. But during the night the Russians 
silently effected their retreat, having previously set fire to the city 
to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy. 

In spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and sacrifices, the 
French army was at least continually advancing ; and as it was 
now plain that Napoleon was seriously determined to prosecute 
his march upon Moscow, the Russian emperor changed the system 
upon which he had hitherto acted, and placed the veteran Kutusoff 
at the head of his forces, with orders to bring on a general action 
with the invader. This event was ardently longed for by both 
parties. On the 5th of September Napoleon came in -sight of the 
grand Russian army, drawn up in a strong position in front of the 
River Moskowa, their centre occupying the village of Bokodino. 
* Se'gnr, vol.i.,p. 212. 



A.D. 1812. BATTLE OF BORODINO. 635 

Their lines were protected by a formidable series of redoubts and 
batteries. The Gth passed over without conflict. On the morn- 
ing of the 7th the sun rose brilliantly, and was hailed by Napo- 
leon as "the sun of Austerlitz." After a fierce and desperate 
battle, the French obtained possession of the whole range of in- 
trenchments which defended the enemy's position ; but this was 
the extent of their success ; the Russians were not routed or dis- 
comfited, but retired in good oi'der. The losses on both sides were 
tremendous ; 12,000 French lay dead* on the field, and the wound- 
ed exceeded 20,000. The Russians had lost 15,000 slain and 
30,000 wounded, with 2000 prisoners. 

KutusofF directed his retreat upon Moscow, but the Russians 
had determined not to defend the city, and rather to abandon it 
to the enemy than stake the safety of their grand army on the 
perilous issue of another general action. They well knew that 
the French were advancing to their own destruction ; the rigors 
of the approaching season, and the total impossibility of subsisting 
such an army in the heart of a hostile country, at a vast distance 
from its magazines, would be certain to complete their ruin, with- 
out the necessity of any farther pitched combats in the field. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 14th of September, the whole Russian army filed 
through the streets of Moscow, and took the road to Kolomna, fol- 
lowed by the greater part of the inhabitants. The nobility and 
upper classes had already taken their departure ; the magazines 
and valuable property were removed ; and no one remained in the 
city except the lowest I'efuse of the population. On the same 
evening the leading columns of the French entered the deserted 
capital; and on the 15th Napoleon himself took up his abode in 
the Kremlin, the ancient and magnificent palace of the Czars. 

§ 4. Now commenced the multiplied misfortunes of this fatal 
campaign. On the very night that the French took possession 
of the city a fire broke out, which, after raging for some hours, 
was with difficulty extinguished. It was at first ascribed to the 
carelessness of the soldiers ; but on the next night the flames kin- 
dled afresh, and increased with such rapidity, and at points so dis- 
tant from each other, as plainly to betray a deliberate design.f 
It was found impossible to arrest the conflagration ; its violence 
was augmented by the fierce autumnal winds, and upward of 7000 
houses, or nine tenths of the whole city, became a prey to the 
flames. As Napoleon suiweyed the blackened ruins of this splen- 

* Among them were seven generals. Davoust and ten other generals were 
wounded. 

t It is now beyond doubt that the burning of Moscow was an act of stern- 
self-denying patriotism on the part of the Russian government. See Thi- 
baudeau, vol. vi., p. 93, and Se'gur, vol. ii., p. 52. 



636 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

did capital, he exclaimed in tones of deep dejection, "They arc 
indeed Scythians ! This is a presage of great calamities !" 

In the mean time, the Kussian general, having received consid- 
erable re-enforcements, began to threaten the communications of 
the French with their magazines and reserves at Smolensko. 
The premonitory symptoms of approaching winter, and the utter 
hopelessness of any pacific negotiation with Alexander, at length 
determined Napoleon to retire from Moscow. On the 19th of 
October the French army evacuated the city ; it amounted at this 
moment to 120,000 men. A strong rear-guard was left in Mos- 
cow under Marshal Mortier, who, by the express orders of Napo- 
leon, blew up the Kremlin before taking his departure. The 
greater part of this celebrated building Avas destroyed. 

On the Gth of November a heavy fall of snow announced the 
commencement of the terrible Kussian winter, which this year set 
in earlier than usual, and with remarkable severity. From this 
point the sufferings of the French army were deplorable. The 
soldiers perished by hundreds in the whirling wreaths of snow, 
and even during the night around the fires of the bivouacs. 
Thirty thousand horses were destroyed by the cold in the first 
week of the frost ; and immense quantities of artillery, ammuni- 
tion, and baggage were in consequence abandoned. "When the 
army at last reached Smolensko (November 12), it was found that 
not less than 30,000 men had already fallen victims to hunger, 
fatigue, and cold ; the cavalry were almost entirely dismounted ; 
and upward of 300 guns had been sacrificed. 

Napoleon continued his retreat from Smolensko without delay, 
having divided his army into four columns, which were to follow 
each other at the distance of a day's march. But the cold was 
now excessive,* and the roads, slippery with ice, were scarcely 
practicable. On the 17th the French found themselves confront- 
ed at Krasnoi by Kutusoff with 60,000 Russians ; and in the ut- 
terly disproportioned confiict which ensued, it was only the per- 
sonal valor and exertions of Napoleon that saved his army from 
complete destruction. Ney, who occupied the post of honor with 
the rear-guard, had not yet come up, and the most anxious ap- 
prehensions were felt that he must be surrounded and overwhelm- 
ed ; but that heroic marshal, after a furious action on the Losmi- 
na, contrived to elude the pursuit of the enemy, crossed the Dnie- 
per with feai'less temerity on the ice, and at last rejoined Napo- 
leon and the main army at Orcza, with a column reduced to 1500 
22en. He was welcomed with joyful acclamations, and saluted by 
the emperor by the well-merited title of "the bravest of the brave." 

* "On thel4th, 15th, and IGth, the thermometer was sixteen and eighteen 
degrees below the freezing point." — Napoleon's 29th Bulletin. 



A.D. 1812. THE RETKEAT FROM MOSCOW. (337 

Between Smolensko and Orcza it is said that 26,000 Frenchmen, 
with 220 pieces of cannon, fell into the hands of the Russians. 

§ 5. The Eussian generals Tchichagoff and Witgenstein had 
now come up in force, and manoeuvred to intercept the fartlier re- 
treat of the French at the passage of the Beresina. But Napo- 
leon's pi'opitious star had not yet set ; he was opportunely re-en- 
forced by the junction of Marshals Victor and Oudinot, whose 
troops were still comparatively untouched. Two bridges were im- 
mediately prepared ; and Napoleon transported the greater part 
of his troops without loss to the opposite bank. But the corps of 
Victor, which covered the passage of the river, was attacked with 
overpowering numbers, and was di'iven back in tremendous con- 
fusion on the bridges ; one of them gave way under the weight of 
the artillery, the other was blown up by Victor's orders ; and a 
scene of carnage, agony, and despair ensued, which baffles all de- 
sci'iption. Thousands perished in the Beresina, thousands fell be- 
neath the Russian sabres, thousands became prisoners. This dis- 
aster completed the disorganization of Napoleon's army; scarcely 
20,000 men now remained who preserved any appearance of mil- 
itary discipline. 

On the 3d of December the emperor arrived at Malodeczno, 
and here issued his famous twenty-ninth bulletin, in which the 
true state of the French army, hitherto studiously concealed, was 
at length unveiled in all its naked horrors. He at the same time 
privately announced to his generals his resolution to quit the army 
and return to Paris, Avhere his presence was urgently required. 
Leaving the chief command to the King of Naples, Napoleon set 
out from Smorgoni in disguise, attended by Caulaincourt and t\\o 
other officers, and, traveling with the utmost rapidity in sledges, 
ari'ived at Warsaw on the 10th. Resuming his journey with un- 
abated speed. Napoleon finally reached Paris on the evening of the 
18th of December, astonishing Maria Louisa and her attendants 
by his sudden and unlooked-for appearance. The bulletin of Malo- 
deczno, which had preceded him by a few hours, had already filled 
the capital with consternation. 

The shattered relics of the grand army, under the conduct of 
Murat, continued their disastrous retreat to the Niemen, which 
they crossed on the 13th of December. At the Niemen the Eus- 
sian pursuit terminated. Scarcely 100,000 men escaped out of 
the 450,000 who had invaded the Russian territory six months 
before. Not less than 125,000 had fallen in the field of battle ; 
while the number of those who perished from the ravages of hun- 
ger, from excessive fatigue, and from tlie severity of the season, 
has been calculated at upward of 130,000. 

§ 6. The return of Napoleon to Paris operated with magical 



638 illE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

effect in reanimating the public confidence and courage, which 
had been grievously shaken by the lamentable tidings from Rus- 
sia. Such was the marvelous and boundless ascendency which 
Napoleon had acquired over the nation, tha,t every sacrifice which 
he demanded toward repairing his losses and arming for a renewal 
of the sanguinary struggle was submitted to without a murmur, 
and even with cheerful alacrity. The energetic measures adopted 
to enforce the conscription placed him, at the beginning of the year 
1813, in command of a fresh army of 350,000 men, exclusive of 
the troops serving in Spain. But the terrible discomfiture he had 
sustained in Russia had produced its natural consequence — a re- 
conciliation between the Emperor Alexander and the King of 
Prussia, who concluded a treaty of alliance for the purpose of ex- 
pelling the French altogether from Germany. The Russian troops 
now crossed the frontier into Prussia, and on the 11th of March 
entered Berlin, where they were welcomed joyfully as friends and 
deliverers. On the 16th of March Prussia formally declai'cd war 
against France ; and although Austria affected to assume the 
character of a mediator, it was more than suspected that she only 
awaited the first great success on the part of the Allies to make 
a decisive declaration in their favor. 

Napoleon quitted Paris on the 15th of April, and traveled rap- 
idly by Mayence to Erfurt, where he assumed the command of his 
army. The first general engagement was fought on the plains of 
Lutzen (already celebi'ated as the last battle-field of the heroic 
Gustavus Adolphus) on the 2d of May. Prince Witgenstein had 
now succeeded to the chief command of the Allies on the death 
of the veteran Kutusoff, and the Emperor Alexander and the King 
of Prussia were present in person with the army ; Napoleon won 
a hard-fought victory, having sacrificed more than 12,000 men. 
The Allies retreated beyond Dresden ; and Napoleon, entering that 
capital on the 8th of May, re-established his ally the King of Sax- 
ony in his dominions. 

The emperor advanced forthwith on the track of the Allies, 
who were concentrated in a strong position beyond the town of 
Bautzen. Here two battles were fought, on the 20th and 21st of 
of May, in which, after a terrible carnage, the Allies were driven 
from their intrenched camp, but retired in excellent order, leaving 
no trophies to the victor. Napoleon could not conceal his vexa- 
tion : "What!" cried he, "no results after such a butchery ! no 
guns, no prisoners *? These people will not leave me so much as 
a nail !" On the next day, during the pursuit of the enemy, 
Duroc, grand marshal of the palace, was struck down by a can- 
non-ball at Napoleon's side, and expired in a few hours. The 
emperor was deeply afflicted by the loss of this attached and con- 



A.D.1813. BATTLE OF DRESDEN. 639 

fidential friend, and for the first time in his life postponed till the 
morrow all attention to the reports of his generals and the many- 
pressing affairs around him. His officers were in consternation : 
"What a war !" they exclaimed : " it will make an end of us all !"' 
The Allies continued their retreat to Schweidnitz ; and Napoleon, 
after pushing the pursuit as far as Breslau, consented to an armis- 
tice, which was to last for eight weeks, from the 4th of June till 
the 28th of July. During this interval diplomatic negotiations 
were to be opened, in which Napoleon professed to entertain hopes 
that a genei-al pacification would be arrived at through the inter- 
vention of Austria. 

§ 7. Napoleon now fixed his head-quarters at Dresden. He is 
said to have been conscious that the armistice was a mistake on 
his part, since in case Austria should be secretly resolved on en- 
tering the lists against him, it would give her ample time to carry 
on and complete her military preparations.* The Austrian minis- 
ter Count Metternich arrived at Dresden, and plainly announced 
that his master could no longer remain neutral, but must tnko 
part in the struggle either for or against France. The Austrian 
ultimatum, with which Metternich was charged, exacted the aban- 
donment of Poland, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, and half of Italy ; 
the dissolution of the Rhenish Confederation, and the re-establish- 
ment of the Pope at Pome. These terms were characterized by 
Napoleon as "a vast act of capitulation," and he indignantly re- 
fused to accept them, even adding a gross insinuation that Met- 
ternich had been bribed by England to play the game of his en- 
emies. The diplomatist retired, deeply and justly offended ; and 
the French historians affirm with one voice that from that moment 
the hostility of the cabinet of Vienna was a thing finally resolved 
upon. The congress, however, was opened at Prague, according 
to agreement, on the 5th of July, and negotiations were pursued 
during several weeks : but peace was evidently hopeless. On the 
lOtli of August the war was renewed ; and the Emperor Francis 
formally signified to the sovereigns of Kussia and Prussia his active 
adhesion to their cause. 

The Allies now assembled an immense army of 370,000 men, 
which was commanded in chief by the Austrian Prince Schwartz- 
enberg. On the 26th they attacked Napoleon's army before 
Dresden. The battle began at three in the afternoon, and raged 
till late at night, when the Austrians, driven back by several furi- 
ous sorties executed by the French guai'ds under Ney, retired to 
their former position on the heights overlooking the city. The 
contest was renewed the next morning, under heavy and incessant 
rain, and the attacks of Napoleon were every where successful. 
* Thibaudeau, vol. vi., p. 305, 306. 



640 'J^HE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

In the afternoon the Allies retreated in confusion on the roads to 
Bohemia, having sustained a loss of upward of 25,000 men in the 
two days' battles. It was in the battle of Dresden that the illus- 
trious Moreau, Avho had been induced by the Emperor Alexander 
to join the ranks of the Allies, was mortally wounded by a cannon- 
shot ; he suffered amputation of both legs, but expired from mor- 
tification a few days afterward. The fate of this great general — 
the victim of Napoleon's vindictive jealousy, which had placed him 
in unnatural antagonism to France — excited universal and de- 
served commiseration. 

§ 8. On the 3d of October, the Allies, who had received a re- 
enforcement of 60,000 Russians under Beningsen, once more ad- 
vanced into Saxony, and established themselves on the left bank 
of the Elbe ; and it was evident that the enemy's plan was to con- 
centrate in overwhelming masses on the plains of Leipsic in the 
rear of the French, so as to cut oiF their retreat toward France. 
The defection of the King of Bavaria, who at this moment of his 
benefactor's waning fortunes signed a treaty of alliance with 
Austria, now contributed greatly to bring about the final resolu- 
tion of Napoleon to retreat upon Leipsic. After two days spent 
in painful indecision the retrograde march commenced, and on 
the loth of October Napoleon reached Leipsic, with an army still 
numbering 140,000 men. This force, however, was immensely 
outnumbered by that of the Allies, who are computed to have as- 
sembled in the plains of Leipsic at least 230,000 combatants. 

On the morning of the 16th of October began that memorable 
conflict which, it was felt on both sides, must prove decisive of 
the fate of the campaign, of Napoleon, and of Europe. The con- 
test on that day terminated without definite result ; but a renew- 
al of it was evidently fraught with momentous peril to Napoleon, 
since the Allies were expecting every hour the arrival of fresh 
masses under Bernadotte, Colloredo, and Beningsen, while he him- 
self had no re-enforcements to depend upon. Fully estimating 
the magnitude of the danger. Napoleon, on the night of tlie 16th, 
made proposals for an armistice preliminaiy to negotiations for 
peace. The terms he offered were such as at an earlier period of 
the campaign would have been certain to effect his object ; but 
they were now inadmissible, the Allied sovereigns having solemn- 
ly pledged themselves to each other to enter into no negotiation 
with Napoleon so long as a single French soldier remained on the 
German side of the Rhine. After the interval of a day this 
dreadful contest was accordingly resumed on the 18th, with una- 
bated fury on both sides. But the Allies had now an overpower- 
ing superiority of numbers, and, although their losses were enor- 
mous, they were repaired without difficulty by fresh troops, so that 



A.D. 1813. RETREAT TO THE RHINE. G41 

the ultimate issue of the day could scarcely be considered doubt- 
ful. The French fought heroically, but by the evening they had 
been forced back upon the town from all points of their position, 
and the suburban villages were in the possession of the Russians. 
The troops of Saxony and Wurtemburg, 12,000 in number, de- 
serted and joined the ranks of Bernadotte in the heat of the battle. 

Napoleon was now compelled to acknowledge that a retreat was 
indispensable. It commenced at daylight on the 19th, under cir- 
cumstances of extraordinary difficulty, a long narrow bridge across 
the Pleisse, the Elster, and the intervening marshes, being the sole 
path of escape available for the whole French army. A large 
portion of the army crossed in safety ; but, by a calamitous error 
on the part of the engineer officer who was charged to blow up 
the bridge to arrest the pursuit of the enemy, the mine was 
sprung befoi-e the remainder of the troops had crossed, and sev- 
ei-al divisions were thus cut off from the only means of passage. 
The noble Poniatowski (upon whom Napoleon had just bestowed 
a marshal's baton) cut his way through all opposition to the riv- 
er's side, but his horse, having been wounded, was carried away 
by the current, and the gallant rider perished in the waters of the 
Elster. The three sovereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, 
and the Crown-Prince of Sweden, met in triumph in the great 
square of Leipsic in the afternoon of the 19th. Their first act 
was to send the unfortunate King of Saxony prisoner under a 
strong guard to Berlin. 

Napoleon's retreat to Erfurt was a scene of miserable disorder, 
and numbers of his troops perished from privation and fatigue. 
Having halted for two days, he was enabled to reassemble 80,000 
men under his banners ; and the Bavarian army under General 
Wrede having taken post at Hanau to oppose his passage, a bat- 
tle ensued on the 30th of October, in which the French arms were 
once more crowned with a decided victory. The emperor now 
pushed on rapidly toward the Rhine, Avhich he crossed at May- 
ence on the 2d of November ; here he quitted the army, now re- 
duced to less than 70,000 men, and on the 9th arrived at St. Cloud. 
The fugitives were vigorously pursued by the victorious Allies ; 
the Emperor Alexander fixed his head-quarters at Frankfort on 
the 5th of November. The garrisons which Napoleon had left 
behind on the Elbe, the Vistula, and the Oder, all surrendered be- 
fore the close of the year. Ominous symptoms now appeared on 
all sides of the sudden breaking up of the gigantic empire which 
had grown out of the manifold usurpations of Napoleon. The 
Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved at a stroke, and the 
kingdom of Westphalia fell to rise no more ; Hanover was re- 
sumed by its lawful sovereign, the King of Great Britain ; the 



G42 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

united provinces of Holland expelled the French authorities, and 
proclaimed the restoration of the house of Orange ; the Austrians 
reconquered without difficulty lUyria, Croatia, and the whole of 
their possessions on the Adriatic. Murat, who had quitted Na- 
poleon at Erfurt, and returned to Naples, now played a mean and 
treacherous game ; he entered into a secret negotiation with Aus- 
tria, and offered to join her with all his forces against France, pro- 
vided his Neapolitan dominions were guaranteed to him. 

§ 9. The campaign of 1813 was fatal to the short-lived domin- 
ion of Joseph Bonaparte in Spain. The battle of VittoriAj fought 
on the 21st of June, decided the fate of the Peninsula. Never 
was an overthrow more complete. The French lost 10,000 killed 
or prisoners ; 150 cannon were captured, together with vast quan- 
tities of ammunition and stores of all kinds. The military chest 
of the army also fell into the hands of the victors, as well as the 
traveling carriage of King Joseph, with all his papers. Marshal 
Jourdan's baton, and an almost incalculable amount of valuable 
private property. Within a fortnight after the battle of Vittoria 
the army of Wellington was in possession of the whole line of the 
Spanish frontier from Roncesvalles to the mouth of the Bidassoa, 
and had also invested the two great fortresses of San Sebastian 
and Pampeluna. Marshal Soult was now once more appointed 
to command in Spain, with ample and almost unlimited powers. 
He reached Bayonne on the 13th of July, and commenced im- 
mediate operations for the relief of Pampeluna. The Allies were 
vigorously attacked in the passes of Roncesvalles and Maya, and 
a series of desperate combats followed between the 25 th of July 
and the 1st of August, the result of which was that Soult, after 
gaining some advantages, and inflicting terrible loss on his op- 
ponent, was finally driven back across the mountains into the 
French territory. 

San Sebastian was stormed and captured on the 3 1st of August, 
after a contest of unparalleled fury, in which the victors sacrificed 
nearly 4000 men. Ineffable excesses and atrocities, which no ex- 
ertions on the part of their officers could restrain, were committed 
by the infuriated British soldiery at St. Sebastian after its fall. 
On the 7th of October the British army crossed the Bidassoa, and 
Pampeluna, after sustaining a lengthened blockade, surrendered to 
the Spaniards on the 31st of October. Meanwhile Wellington 
continued to advance, forced the positions of the French marshal 
on the Nivelle and the Nive, and became master of the entire dis- 
trict up to the very gates of Bayonne. 

§ 10. Napoleon, immediately on his return to Paris, assembled 
the Senate, and laid before them a candid declaration of the state 
of affairs, and of the imminent dangers which menaced France. 



A.D. 1813, 1814. THE ALLIES INVADE FEANCE. 643 

lie proceeded to demand a fresh levy of 300,000 men, which was 
fortliwith submissively decreed, and was to be raised from those 
classes who had already undergone the conscription during the 
ten previous years. An enormous amount of taxes was at the 
same time added to the national burdens; and 30 millions of 
francs from Napoleon's private treasury in the vaults of the Tuil- 
eries were transferred to the public account toward the expenses 
of the state. On the 19th of December the emperor opened the 
session of the Legislative Chamber, but the Assembly, hitherto so 
blindly subservient, now assumed a tone of respectful but firm re- 
monstrance. Upon the report of a committee, an address to the 
emperor was drawn up, in which it was urged that assurances 
ought to be given, not only that the government desired peace, 
but that France should enjoy that freedom of political rights and 
institutions which alone made peace a blessing. The copies of 
this address were seized at the printing-office by the emperor's 
orders, and on the 30th of December he prorogued sine die the 
session of the Chamber, with a view to its dissolution. 

§ 11. Napoleon was now to enter on a struggle very different 
in character from any of his former campaigns ; he was to fight, 
not for glory and foreign conquest, but for his existence as a mon- 
arch; not for the aggrandizement of an overgrown empire, but 
for the protection and deliverance of the sacred soil of France. 
The grand Austrian ai'my under Schwartzenberg, violating the 
neutrality of Switzerland, crossed the Rhine at Basle on the 21st 
of December, and advanced by leisurely marches to Langres, which 
submitted on the 16th of January, 1814. The army of Silesia, 
under Bluchei', effected its passage at several points between 
Mannheim and Coblenz, and after traversing the Vosges Mount- 
ains took possession of Nancy. The third army of the Allies — 
that of the North — commanded by the Russian general Winzin- 
gerode and the Prussian Bulow, approached France by way of 
Cologne, Liege, and Namur, and ultimately established themselves 
on the road to Paris by Laon and Soissons. Thus, before the 
close of January, the invaders occupied a continuous line of oper- 
ations extending from Langres to Namur, and including nearly 
one third of France. Their numbers are immensely exaggerated 
by the French historians, for the unnecessary purpose of enhanc- 
ing the skill displayed by Napoleon in this wonderful campaign. 
The disproportion of numerical strength between the combatants, 
even upon the lowest computation, was enoi-mous ; the Allies had 
at least 200,000 men in the field, without reckoning their army 
of the North ; while the most strenuous exertions of the French 
emperor barely sufficed to raise his disposable force to 110,000, 
independently of the corps of Soult opposed to Wellington, and 
that of Suchet in Catalonia and Aragon. 



G44 THE EMPIKE. Chap. XXX. 

On the 23d of January the emperor assembled at the Tuileries 
the commandant and superior officers of the national guard of 
Paris, and in language of unaffected pathos committed to their 
guardianship the empress and the infant King of Eome — " all that 
was dearest to him in the Avorld." Maria Louisa was named re- 
gent, with the ex-king Joseph Bonaparte as her chief counselor. 
Napoleon left the capital at an early hour on the 25th, and trav- 
eled rapidly to Chalons-sur-Marne, where he placed himself at the 
head of his army. For the next few weeks he succeeded in keep- 
ing the enemy at bay, and never did he employ more military ge- 
nius than in this campaign. But, notwithstanding his almost mi- 
raculous performances, it was not in the nature of things that he 
should be able ultimately to maintain his ground against such 
overwhelming odds. Before the commencement of the campaign 
the Allies at Frankfort had demanded that France should be re- 
stricted to her natural boundaries, the Rhine, the Alps, and the 
Pyrenees. But their demands, like those of the sibyl of old, rose 
higher upon each fresh refusal to accept their terms, and they now 
insisted that France should return to her ancient boundaries as 
they existed before the Revolution. 

Napoleon finally resolved upon a movement which was so fraught 
with peril that probably no one but himself could have conceived 
or executed it. After the battle fought at Arcis-sur-Aube on the 
20th of Mai-ch, which was the most fiercely contested of the whole 
campaign, the emperor retired from the line of the Aube, and placed 
himself completely in the rear of the grand Austrian army, threat- 
ening thereby to cut off their communications with the Rhine, and 
also to force them to relinquish their march upon Paris by carry- 
ing the war into a totally contrary direction. This scheme, when 
discovered by the Allies thi*ough an intercepted letter, produced 
hesitation and conflicting counsels in their camp ; but it is said 
that at this juncture a dispatch was received from their secret cor- 
respondents in Paris,* which determined them to advance forth- 
with, at all hazards, on the capital. On the 25th of March the 
Austrian columns were put in motion to join those of Blucher in 
this daring and decisive enterprise ; a corps of 10,000 men under 
Winzingerode being detached at the same time to occupy the at- 
tention of Napoleon, and delude him into the belief that he was 
followed by the main army of the Allies. Falling into the snare 
thus laid for him, the emperor attacked Winzingerode on the 2Cth 
near St. Dizier, and on the following morning ascertained from 
some of his prisoners the true state of the case, and the moment- 

* "Yon venture nothing" — so ran this significant missive — "wlienyou 
may safely venture every thing. Venture once more." The writer was 
Talleyrand. 



A.D. 1814. CAPITULATION OF PARIS. 645 

OLis advantage which Fortune had thrown into the hands of the 
enemy. He countermarched with marvelous velocity, reaching 
Troyes on the night of the 29th ; but the Allies were three days 
in advance of him, and it was manifest that no human exertions 
could by any possibility place his army under the walls of Paris 
in time to relieve and defend it. Napoleon, however, still trusted 
to the skill and valor of Marshals Marmont and Mortier, and also 
to the spirit and patriotism of the Parisians, which could hardly 
fail to be aroused in such a moment of extremity ; he accordingly 
ordered his generals to hurry forward, while he himself, traveling 
post in advance of his troops, arrived at Fontainebleau on the 30th 
at a late hour of the night. But on that eventful day had been 
fought the final battle which destroyed his throne. 

§ 12. Marshals Marmont and Mortier meantime had made the 
best arrangements in their power for a determined stand in defense 
of the capital. But they were ill-seconded by the government of 
the empress-regent, which had taken no vigorous measures to pro- 
vide for such an emergency. Eight thousand troops of the line, 
and about 30,000 national guards, were all the forces that could 
be mustered at this crisis to protect the proud metropolis of France 
from the humiliation of being captured by armed foreigners. Ma- 
ria Louisa, carrying with her the infant King of Rome, and attend- 
ed by the chief dignitaries and members of the Council of State, 
quitted the Tuileries on the morning of the 29th of March, and 
took the road to Rambouillet and Blois. The last act of this great 
drama was now at hand. The Allies, at an early hour on the 30th, 
attacked the whole line of the position occupied by Marmont and 
Mortier. The conflict Avas maintained by the French with the 
utmost desperation for several hours ; but the arrival of Blucher 
with the Silesian army, near 100,000 strong, gave the assailants 
a superiority of numbei's so overwhelming that farther resistance 
would have been simply a wanton and unjustifiable sacrifice of the 
lives of gallant Frenchmen. Accordingly, about noon, when show- 
ers of balls were beginning to fall in the suburban streets of Paris, 
Joseph authorized the two marshals to arrange a suspension of 
arms with Schwartzenberg. The armistice was signed in the aft- 
ernoon, and it was agreed that the city should be surrendered to 
the Allies on the next day, the French troops being permitted to 
evacuate it without molestation, and retire in the direction of the 
Loire. Marshal Marmont, who on this memorable day covered 
himself with glory by his heroic valor, has been assailed with most 
unjust and calumnious obloquy for having consented to the capit- 
ulation of Paris. No man of sense, j udgment, and humanity could 
act otherwise than he did. He fought to the very last extremity, 
and only submitted to absolute necessity. In the absence of Na- 



646 THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

poleon, and without the support of an enth-e population risen e)i 
masse to defend their homes, it would have been utter madness to 
prolong the contest ; it would have ended in the destruction of 
Paris, without saving the empire. 

On the morning of the 31st of March, the allied armies, with 
the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia in person, com- 
menced their entrance into Paris by various approaches, and no 
less than 230,000 men, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, defiled in 
lines of thirty abreast through the most frequented thoroughfares 
of the city, amid the silent amazement of the inhabitants, who had 
been carefully kept in ignorance of the real numbers of their con- 
querors. As the cavalcade of the sovereigns approached that 
quarter of Paris which is inhabited by the opulent and fashiona- 
ble classes, the cry of "Vive le Koi ! Vivent les Bourbons !" was 
raised — timidly at first, afterward more confidently — by the Roy- 
alists among the crowd. The unaccustomed sound was caught 
up and re-echoed, with the volatile impulsiveness of Frenchmen, 
by other groups along the line of the procession ; and at last the 
Avhole multitude of spectators burst forth into prolonged and unan- 
imous shouts of "Vive I'Empereur Alexandre! Vive le Roi de 
Prusse ! Vive Louis XVIII. ! A bas le tyran !" Alexander took 
up his residence at the hotel of M. de Talleyrand, where an anx- 
ious conference was immediately held with the principal senators 
and functionaries of the government. At the request of those 
present, the sovereigns issued a proclamation stating that they 
would no longer treat with Napoleon Bonaparte or any member 
of his family. They farther invited the Senate to appoint a pro- 
visional committee of government, and to prepare such a consti- 
tution as might be agreeable to the wishes of the people. The 
deposition of Napoleon was a measure already resolved on by an- 
ticipation by Talleyrand, the weight of whose influence was at 
this juncture pi'edominant ; and in this he was supported by rea- 
sonable men of all parties, and by the vast majority of the nation. 
The Senate, at its meeting on the 2d of April, published a decree 
declaring that Napoleon Bonaparte, having repeatedly violated the 
rights and liberties of the people and the laws of the Constitution, 
had forfeited the throne; that the hereditary right established in 
his family was abolished ; and that the French nation and the 
army were released from their engagements to Napoleon and his 
government. This decree was accepted by the Legislative Cham- 
ber, and the other public bodies of the capital immediately signi- 
fied their acquiescence, and their adherence to the provisional 
government. Marmont now signed a convention with Prince 
Schwartzenberg, by which his troops, abandoning the service of 
Napoleon, Avere to retire Avith all military honors into Normandy. 



A.D. 1814. ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON. 647 

§ 13. While these fatal events were passing in and around Paris, 
Napoleon, pursuing his nocturnal journey with breathless speed, 
had advanced as far as the village of Fromenteau, about ten miles 
from the metropolis, when he met General Belliard with his di- 
vision, who informed him that the battle was lost, that Paris had 
capitulated, and that Marmont's troops were retreating in virtue 
of a convention with the allies. Napoleon was at first thunder- 
struck by the intelligence ; but, rapidly regaining his self-posses- 
sion, he called for his carriage, and prepared to set out instantly 
for Paris, where he insisted that his presence would at once rouse 
the population en masse for its defense, and prevent, even at the 
last moment, the impending catastrophe. By degrees he became 
more calm, and at length, yielding to the counsels of Caulaincourt 
and Berthier, he abandoned the idea of proceeding farther, and re- 
traced his steps to Fontainebleau, arriving there at daybreak on 
the 31st of March. His army, still numbering upward of 50,000 
men, came up by different routes, and was distributed in the town 
and the neighboring villages. 

Caulaincourt, whom Napoleon had dispatched as his envoy to 
the Emperor Alexander, soon found that the determination of the 
Allies not to treat personally with Napoleon was final and irre- 
vocable, and that the proposition of a regency had scarcely a bet- 
ter chance of success. With these melancholy tidings he returned 
on the 2d of April to Fontainebleau. Napoleon, violently irrita- 
ted and excited, assembled his battalions the next morning in the 
court of the palace, harangued them with all his accustomed fer- 
vor, and bade them prepare for an immediate march to Paris. 
The soldiers answered with enthusiastic acclamations, and would 
doubtless have followed him without hesitation on this desperate 
enterprise ; but on the 4th of April Marshals Ney, Oudinot, Le- 
febvre, and other superior officers gave him clearly to understand 
that they could not support him in any such useless and insane 
movement. Without their concurrence the fidelity of the army 
was more than doubtful, and Napoleon ere long became reluctant- 
ly convinced that his last hope of armed resistance was at an end. 
Ney having intimated that no alternative remained but his abdi- 
cation, the emperor, magnanimously yielding to his destiny, sat 
down and penned the required act of resignation, adding, however, 
a reservation of the rights of his son, under the regency of the 
empress. The document was immediately conveyed to Paris by 
Caulaincourt, Ney, and Macdonald. But, in the meantime, the 
defection of Marmont, whose troops had now marched within tlic 
Russian lines, had materially altered the views of the Allies. Na- 
poleon was thus at their mercy, and was virtually a prisoner; and, 
in consequence, they rejected the stipulation of the i-egency, and in- 



64S THE EMPIRE. Chap. XXX. 

sisted on his absolute and unconditional abdication. Napoleon at 
first resisted this demand with frantic vehemence, but after a night 
of distressing agitation he once more submitted to necessity, and 
placed his unqualified resignation in the hands of Caulaincourt. 
On the 11th of April the treaty of Fontainebleau was signed be- 
tween Napoleon and the allied powers ; by its terms Napoleon, 
renouncing for himself, his heirs and descendants, all right to the 
thrones of France and Italy, was to retain for life the title of Em- 
peror, with the independent sovereignty of the island of Elba, and 
a revenue of two millions of francs. A farther annual sum of 
2,500,000 francs was settled on the different members of his fam- 
ily, and ample gratuities were secured to his friends and followers, 
a list of whom was to be transmitted to the French government 
by Napoleon himself. 

§ 14. Napoleon lingered at Fontainebleau for several days after 
the ratification of this treaty, and it is said that in the depth of 
his dejection he at one time attempted suicide by poison ; but the 
dose was not sufficiently potent to destroy life, and after a brief 
treatment by his medical attendant he recovered.* It was dur- 
ing this interval that he received tidings of the termination of the 
struggle between Wellington and Soult in the south of France. 
Soult had been beaten at Orthez on the 27th of February by Wel- 
lington, and had then retreated and concentrated at Toulouse; 
here he was attacked by the British with a superior force on the 
10th of April, and was ultimately driven from his position after a 
stubborn resistance, in which the loss of Wellington's army was 
considerably greater than his own.f The French evacuated Tou- 
louse on the day after the battle, and the Allies entered in tri- 
umph ; the authorities immediately hoisted the drapeau Mane, and 
proclaimed Louis XVIII4 A most unnecessary and unfortunate 
affair, however, took place on the 14th atBayonne, Avhere the fact 
of Napoleon's dethronement seems to have been not yet positively 
known ; the garrison made a vigorous sortie by night from the 
citadel, and, although it was repulsed in the end by the Allies, the 
lives of at least 900 men were sacrificed on both sides. This was 
the last act of the momentous Revolutionary war. A convention 
was signed on the 18th of April between Marshal Soult and Wel- 
lington, and hostilities at once ceased throughout the southern 

* Thibaudeau, vol. vii., p. 27; Lamartinc, vol. i., p. 209; Vaulabelle, 
Hist, des Deux Restmirations, vol. i., p. 423. 

t Napier, vol. iv., p. 397. 

J Marshal Soult has been accused of having fought the battle of Toulouse 
with a full knowledge of the previous abdication of Napoleon. This, how- 
ever, was emphatically denied and disproved by the Duke of Wellington in 
the Britisli House of Lords. 



A.D. 1814. BONAPARTE KiiTlKElS TO ELBA. 64g 

provinces, which welcomed with universal joy and thankfulness 
the restored dominion of their ancient princes. 

The dethroned emperor at length quitted Fontainebleau on the 
20th of April, having previously taken an atFecting leave of his 
old guard in the court of the chateau. He was attended to the 
sea-coast by commissioners from all the allied powers. During 
. the earlier part of his journey the inhabitants treated him with 
respect and sympathy, but as he approached Provence symptoms 
of popular indignation and disturbance appeared, and at one place 
Napoleon was obliged to save himself from personal violence by 
escaping in disguise. He embarked at Frejus on board a British 
frigate, and, landing at Porto Ferrajo on the 4th of May, took 
possession of the narroAvly circumscribed dominions to Avhich his 
fallen fortunes had reduced him. It must be observed that the 
island of Elba, divided only by a naiTOw channel from the coast 
of Italy, and not more than two or three days' sail from France, 
was chosen with singular infelicity for the purposes of Napoleon's 
enemies. Every facility was thus offered him for carrying on con- 
stant communication with the army, which was still devotedly at- 
tached to him, and with his numerous adherents of all classes ; 
and active intrigues commenced almost immediately, the result of 
which was at no distant date to place this extraordinary man 
once more in a position to invade the ill-assured tranquillity <3f 
Europe. 

E E 




Medal of Louis XVIII. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE RESTORATION. REIGNS OF LOUIS XVIII. AND CHARLES X. 
A.D. 1814-1830. 

1. Louis XVIII. lands at Calais; his Entry into Paris. § 2. Treaty of 
Paris; OjDening of the Chambers ; the Constitutional Charter. § 3. Con- 
gress of Vienna ; Napoleon escapes from Elba and lands in France ; Ar- 
maments of the Allies. § 4. Progress of Napoleon from the Coast of 
Provence to Lyons ; Flight of Louis XVIII. ; Napoleon arrives at Paris. 
§ 5. The Hundred Days ; Acte Additionnel ; Preparations for the Cam- 
paign ; Military Plans of Napoleon ; Strength of his Army ; Defection of 
General Bourmont. § 6. The French cross the Belgic Frontier ; Battles 
of Ligny and Quatre Bras ; March on Waterloo ; Positions of the two 
Armies. § 7. Battle of Waterloo. § 8. Napoleon at Paris ; his second 
Abdication; he sails from Rochefort for England; he is conveyed to St. 
Helena. § 9. The Prussians and English march to Paris; Convention 
of St. Cloud ; Return of Louis XVIII. ; Harshness and Violence of the 
Prussians. § 10. Proscriptions; the Treaty of Vienna. § 11. Violent 
Outbreaks in the Provinces ; Executions of Labe'doyere and Marshal Ney ; 
Death of Murat. § 12. Dissolution of the Chamber ; new Electoral Law ; 
Ministry of Decazes; the Doctrinaires. § 13. Assassination of the Duke 
of Berry ; Resignation of Decazes ; the Law of the "■ Double Vote:' § 14. 
Birth of the Duke of Bordeaux ; Death of Napoleon at St. Helena. § 15. 
Insurrection in Spain ; the Carbonari , the Holy Alliance ; its Interference 
in Spain and Italy. § IG. Congress of Verona; Inten'ention of France 
to restore despotic Government in Spain ; Ascendency of the ultra-Roy- 
alists in France ; Death of Louis XVIII. ; his Character. § 17. Charles 
X. ; his Coronation. § 18. Rigorous Law on the Censorship of the Press ; 
Disbanding of the National Guard ; the Martignac Ministry. § 19. Na- 
val Expedition to Greece ; Battle of Is^avarino ; liberal Measures of the 
Cabinet ; Prince Polignac appointed Premier ; Opening of the Chambers ; 
hostile Address carried in rei)ly to the ^oja\ Speech ; Dissolution of the 



A.D, 1814. 



RETURN OF LOUIS XVIII. 



Gol 




Eeverse of MeJal of Louis XVIII. 



Chambers ; Strength of the Opposition. § 20. Expedition to Algiers. 
§ 21. The Ordonnances of the 25th of July; Marshal Marmont named to 
the chief Command of Paris ; Insurrection of the " Three Days of July ;" 
the Troops evacuate Paris ; Capture of the Tuileries. § 22. The Crown 
offered to the Duke of Orleans ; Abdication of Charles X. ; he and his 
Family retire to England. § 23. Reflections on the Revolution of 1830. 

§ 1. On the vfry same day that Napoleon bade farewell to Fon- 
tainebleau, Louis XVIII. set out from Hartwell, in Buckingham- 
shire, the quiet country house in which he had been residing for 
several years past, for London and Calais, on his way to take 
possession of the restored throne of his ancestors.* A decree of 
the Senate had already formally recalled the Bourbon family, and 
the Count of Artois had entered Paris on the 12 th of April in the 
quality of lieutenant general of the. kingdom. f Louis XVIII. 
crossed the Channel on board an English yacht, escorted by the 
Duke of Clarence •,% he landed at Calais on the 24th of April, 
and Avas received Avith every outward demonstration of enthusi- 
astic loyalty and attachment. The Legislature was convoked 
for June, and in the mean while the king pledged himself to the 
following principles as the groundwork of the new constitution : 

* Louis was at this time in the 59th year of his age, having been born on 
the 17th of November, 1755. 

t The happy expression attributed to the prince in reply to the congratu- 
lations of the Senate — "Nothing is changed in France except that she pos- 
sesses one Frenchman the more" — was invented and put into his mouth by 
Beugnot, the minister of police. — Vaulabelle, vol. ii., p. 31. 

X Louis committed a great error in judgment by stating publicly, in his 
parting speech to the Prince Regent of England, that he owed his restoration 
to his royal highness and the British people. 



652 THE RESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

That the representative government should be maintained in two 
bodies, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. That all taxes 
should be freely voted and imposed by the authority of the nation- 
al representatives, with the sanction of the king. That the min- 
isters should be responsible, and might be impeached and tried by 
the Legislative Chambers. That the judges should be irremova- 
ble. That the rights of property, freedom of religious worship, 
and the liberty of the press (within the limits necessary to public 
tranquillity) should be guaranteed. That all Frenchmen should 
be equally eligible to all civil and military employments ; and, 
finally, that no one should be in any way molested on account of 
his political votes and opinions. This liberal programme was' 
welcomed with loud and universal rejoicing ; and on the follow- 
ing day, the 3d of May, 1814, Louis XVIIL made his public en- 
try into the capital, accompanied by his niece, the Duchess of An- 
gouleme, the Count of Artois, and his son the Duke of Kerry, the 
Prince of Conde, and the Duke of Bourbon. The splendid cor- 
tege was received with conflicting feelings by the Parisian popu- 
lation ; the Royalists, who thronged the windows of the streets 
through which it passed to Notre Dame, were of course enthusi- 
astic in their acclamations, but the mass of the people looked on 
in wondering silence.* Nothing, however, occurred to disturb pub- 
lic order and decorum. 

§ 2. One of the most urgent of the duties devolving on the new 
government was the conclusion of a treaty of peace*between France 
and the Allies. France resumed her boundaries of the 1st of 
January, 1792, but with several small additions, such as the coun- 
ty of Venaissin, the sous-prefecture of Chambery, and a few towns 
and villages on the Rhenish and Belgian frontiers. France re- 
covered all her colonial possessions taken in the war, except the 
islands of Tobago, Ste. Lucie, and Mauritius ; she was restrained, 
however, from erecting any sort of fortification in her Indian col- 
onies. Malta and its dependencies were ceded in full sovereignty 
to Great Britain. Holland and Belgium were united into one 
kingdom, under the dominion of the house of Orange, and the fleet 
in the Texel was placed at the disposal of the new King of the 
Netherlands. The treaty contained other articles of minor im- 
portance, and the powers engaged to send plenipotentiaries to a 
general congress which was appointed to be held at Vienna in the 
autumn. t The foreign sovereigns and armies now immediately 

* "La piece etait pour les loges, elles applaudissaient ; le parterre ouvrait, 
de grands yeux, bouches closes, mains immobiles, I'ame attristee." — Thibau- 
deau, vol. vii., p. 92. This author was an eye-witness. 

t No less a sum than eight millions of francs (£320,000) was distributed in 
gratuities among the foreign plenipotentiaries wlio signed tliis treaty. — Vau- 
labelle, vol. ii., p. 93. 



A.D. 1814, 1815. NAPOLEON ESCAPES FKOM ELBA. 553 

took their departure from France, and Louis was left to the diffi- 
cult task of regulating the internal administration of his kingdom. 

The opening of the chambers took place on the 4th of June, 
when the king promulgated the new charter, which varied in sev- 
eral particulars from the scheme previously set forth. The pre- 
amble stated that, although the whole authority of government 
resided in the person of the monarch, Louis XVIIL, after the ex- 
ample of several of his predecessors, had determined to grant cer- 
tain alterations required by the times ; he therefore, by the volun- 
tary and free exercise of his sovereign power, conceded {octroyait) 
this constitutional charter to his subjects. This w^as an ill-judged 
proceeding ; and the indiscretion was carried still farther by dating 
the charter in the nineteenth year of the king's reign, thus ignoring 
alike the convulsions and sacrifices of the Revolution and the 
glorious triumphs of the empire. The peers of France were to be 
nominated by the crown, either for life or Avith hereditary descent ; 
their number Avas unlimited. In oi'der to be eligible to the Cham- 
ber of Deputies, it was necessary to have completed forty years 
of age, and to pay in direct taxes the annual amount of one thou- 
sand francs. The electoral suffrage was confined to persons thir- 
ty years of age, and paying to the state a direct contribution of 
three hundred francs. The king possessed the initiative of all 
laws ; the chambers, however, might request him to propose a law 
upon any subject they thought fit ; if their request should be re- 
jected, it could not be preferred a second time during the same 
session. The Roman Catholic religion was declared to be that 
of the state, but full toleration was granted to all other forms of 
Christian Avorship. 

Such were the leading principles of this celebrated charter of 

1814, Avhich continued from that date down to an epoch still 
rec3nt to be i-ecognized as the fundamental code of government in 
France. 

§ 3. In the mean time the general congress of the powers of 
Europe had assembled at Vienna, M. de Talleyrand appearing as 
the representative of France. After considerable discussion, there 
at length appeared every hope that a good understanding Avould 
be renewed among the poAvers, and that the result Avould be a 
durable and glorious peace. Vienna became, in consequence, a 
scene of splendid gayety ; every day was marked by sumptuous 
banquets and brilliant fetes ; and it AA'as at one of these entertain- 
ments, a ball given by Prince Metternich on the 7th of March, 

1815, that the guests Avere suddenly surprised by the astounding 
intelligence that Napoleon had escaped from Elba, and had effected 
a landing in the south of France. This announcement, after the 
first moment of general consternation, led to an instantaneous co- 



G54 THE RESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

alition of all the great powei's represented at Vienna against the 
individual whom they regarded as the scourge and common enemy 
of Europe. By a joint manifesto issued on the 13th of March 
they declared that Napoleon Bonaparte, by violating the conven- 
tion which had established him in the island of Elba, had desti'oy- 
ed the only legal title on which his existence depended ; that his 
reappearance in France with projects of confusion and civil war 
had placed him beyond the pale of social relations, and that, as a 
disturber of the peace of the world, he was a fit object oi public 
vengeance. The contracting parties farther agreed to prosecute 
the war until Napoleon and his adherents should be rendered in- 
capable of again invading the tranquillity of Europe. Three vast 
armies were organized without delay by the Allies ; the first was 
furnished by Austria, and commanded by Prince Schwartzenberg ; 
the second was composed of the British, Hanoverians, Belgians, 
and Prussians, under the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal 
Blucher ; the third consisted of 200,000 Russians, under the Em- 
peror Alexander in person. 

§ 4. The conspiracy Avliich resulted in the i-eturn of Napoleon 
to France was so Avidely ramified, and was carried on with so lit- 
tle reserve or secrecy, that Louis and his government, had they 
exercised only common vigilance, could not have failed to become 
acquainted v/ith it ; instead of A\liich, they seem to have remained 
in perfect and unsuspecting security up to the veiy moment of the 
explosion. On the 26th of February Napoleon embarked on board 
his own armed corvet-te the "Inconstant," with 400 grenadiers 
of his guard, commanded by his faithful generals Drouet, Ber- 
ti-and, and Cambronne. Some other small vessels followed, con- 
veying troops collected in Corsica and elsewhere, the whole 
amounting to about a thousand men. On the 1st of March Na- 
poleon landed on the beach a short distance from the town of 
Cannes. On the 7th lie encountered for the first time a detach- 
ment of the royal troops, Avhich threatened to bar his passage at 
the small town of La Mure. The emperor advanced alone, with 
a firm and calm countenance, to the head of the column, and ex- 
claimed in a loud voice, " Soldiers, if there is one among you who 
desires to kill his general, his emperor, he can do so ; here I am !" 
The effect of his words and pi-esence was electrical ; the soldiers 
joyfully thronged around him, fraternized with their comrades of 
his guard, and marched with him to Grenoble. From that place 
to Lyons his march was a continued triumph. 

There still, however, remained some chance that the march of 
the usurper might be arrested between Lyons and the capital. 
Marshal Ney had proffered his services to the king ; and on being 
placed in command of a corps d'arme'e assembled at Besan9on, had 



A.D. 1815. THE "HUNDRED DAYS." 655 

engaged to "bring back the Corsican to Paris in an iron cage," 
But a personal appeal from the emperor awakened all the mar- 
shal's most cherished and flattering reminiscences ; he forgot his 
oaths and promises to Louis XVIIL, and rejoined his ancient sov- 
ereign on tiie 17th of March at Auxerre. His troops instantly 
followed his example of defection ; and the triumphant issue of 
Napoleon's enterprise was placed beyond a question. Despair 
reigned in the councils of the Tuileries. The king, having issued 
a proclamation expi'essing in dignified language his submission to 
the will of Providence, quitted the palace in the night between 
the 19th and 20th of March, and proceeded, under the protection 
of his household troops, to Lille, and afterwai^d to Ghent, Avhere he 
remained during the brief period of Napoleon's second reign. The 
emperor entered Paris in the evening of the 20th, having thus 
accomplished his perilous undertaking without encountering the 
smallest serious opposition, or shedding a single di"op of French 
blood. His reception at the Tuileries was a scene defying all de- 
scription. He was literally carried up the grand staircase in the 
arms of his excited followers, into the state apartments, where a 
vast and brilliant crowd of all the notabilities of the empire had 
assembled to welcome him. 

§ 5. The '• Hundred Days," March 20 to June 29, 1815. — 
After the first outburst of gratified pride and ambition, Napoleon 
found that his position was surrounded by difficulties and dangers 
of no common kind, and that it would be impossible to maintain 
it without submitting to considerable sacrifices. The liberal or 
patriot party, although they had joined in recalling him to the 
throne, loudly insisted on increased and substantial guarantees for 
the interests of the people, and gave him clearly to understand 
that he could only reign henceforth as a constitutional monarch. 
On the 21st of April appeared the document entitled "An Act 
additional to the Constitutions of the Empire." This new impe- 
rial system closely resembled the Charter of Louis XVIII., but 
contained still more ample provisions for securing popular liberty. 
The emperor's tenure of power, however, was to depend, not upon 
any increase of wisdom and generosity in matters of internal ad- 
ministration, but upon the stei;n arbitrament of the sword. Na- 
poleon labored incessantly day and night to reorganize the army. 
Its effective force on the 1st of June amounted to 217,000 men 
actually present under arms, including a superb body of cavalry 
and a very powerful train of artillery. In addition to the troops 
of the line, the national guards, completely armed and equipped, 
ibrmed a magnificent array of 150,000 men. These results, re- 
alized within the space of seven weeks, were prodigious ; but the 
t>lans of Napoleon were far more extensive. Had he been able 



G56 ' THE REST(3RATI0N. Chap. XXXI. 

to postpone the outbreak of hostilities for three months longer, a 
total of not less than 800,000 men would in all probability have 
been assembled for the defense of the French frontiers ; '• a wall 
of brass," as the emperor afterward remarked, "which no earthly 
power would have been able to break through." 

Two plans for the approaching campaign presented themselves 
to Napoleon's choice. He might either remain for the present on 
the defensive, and await the arrival of the Allies, who could not 
commence offensive operations on a combined plan before the mid- 
dle or end of July, or, on the other hand, he might anticipate the 
movements of the enemy, concentrate the mass of his forces on 
the Belgian frontier, and attack Wellington and Blucher before 
they could be succored by the other armies of the coalition. The 
latter alternative was that selected by the emperor, and Belgium 
was to become once more, as on so many other memorable occa- 
sions, the battle-field of Europe. 

Napoleon crossed the Belgian frontier on the 14th of June. 
The total force with which he commenced the campaign was 
115,500 men. His plan was to advance in person against the 
Prussians, who formed the left of the Allied army, while, at the 
same time, Marshal Ney, detached with 45,000 men, was to en- 
counter the English, prevent their junction with Blucher, and 
keep them hotly engaged until the emperor should arrive with an 
immense superiority of force to complete their discomfiture. The 
enemy received intelligence of this scheme from General Bour- 
mont, who, with his aids-de-camp and thi'ee other officers, treach- 
erously deserted Napoleon on the night of the 14th, and joined 
the camp of Blucher.* 

§ 6. At daylight on the 15th of June the French dii^ected their 
march upon Charleroi. On the 16th Napoleon discovered the 
Prussian army, about 80,000 strong, drawn up on a range of 
heights near the village of Ligny. He had ordered Ney, after 
making himself master of an important point called Les Quatre 
Bras, to countermarch and fall upon the rear of the Prussians. 
Having allowed the time necessary for this movement, he com- 
menced the attack at four in the afternoon, and at length estab- 
lished himself in possession of I^igny after a frightful carnage. 
The contest continued till a late hour at night, when Blucher at 
length commenced a retreat upon Wavre, which was executed in 
perfect order. The French loss at Ligny has been stated at from 
8000 to 10,000 men,t that of the Prussians exceeded 15,000. 

Meanwhile Ney, whose object was to possess himself of the post 
of Quatre Bras (at the intersection of the roads from Brussels to 

* General Jomini, Precis de la Campat/ne c^e 1815. 
+ Tliibaiulean, vol. vii., p. 382. 



A.D. 1815. BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 657 

Charleroi and from Nivelles to Namur) before the arrival of the 
English army, was forestalled by the Duke of Wellington ; Quatre 
Bras was occupied at an early hour on the 16th by some Belgian 
and Dutch regiments under the Prince of Orange, and about mid- 
day by the division of Sir Thomas Picton, with the Brunswickers 
and Nassau troops. The French attacked about three in the aft- 
ernoon, and easily drove back the Belgians, but failed to gain any 
advantage over the British, who held their ground with immov- 
able constancy until the Duke of Wellington came up with con- 
siderable re-enforcements.* At nightfall Ney withdrew his forces 
toward Frasnes, having lost upward of 4000 men in killed and 
wounded. Napoleon's main object, that of penetrating between 
the British and Prussian armies, and beating them in detail, was 
thus frustrated. But the retreat of Blucher upon Wavre rendered 
it necessary that tlie English general should make a correspond- 
ing movement ; and the Duke of Wellington accordingly fell back 
and took up a position near the village of Waterloo, which he 
had previously examined and fixed upon for the purpose of cover- 
ing Brussels. He thus maintained unimpaired his line of com- 
munication with his allies. 

Napoleon, ignorant of the direction of Blucher's retreat, dis- 
patched Marshal Grouchy on the 17th, with 32,000 men, to pur- 
sue and overtake the Prussians, and prevent, at all hazards, their 
junction with the Duke of Wellington. The emperor himself 
then joined the corps of Marshal Ney at Frasnes, and with his 
united force followed the retreating English. A severe skirmish 
occurred with their rear-guard at Genappe, but when the French 
arrived in sight of the field of Waterloo it was too late to com- 
mence farther operations that evening, and the decisive struggle 
Avas postponed till the morrow. As soon as Napoleon discovered 
that Wellington had determined to accept a general engagement 
at Waterloo, he sent positive instructions to Grouchy to occupy 
strongly the defiles of St. Lambert, for the double purpose of pre- 
serving his own communication with the grand army, and prevent- ' 
ing Blucher from coming up in force to the assistance of the En- 
glish. With this order, however, the marshal was unable to com- 
ply, for reasons which will be explained hereafter. The French 
army was posted on a chain of gentle eminences taking its name 
from the village of Rossomme, the centre of their line being cross- 
ed, at the farm of La Belle Alliance, by the high road from Char- 
leroi to Brussels. The English occupied a similar range imme- 

* The British force at the beginning of the action at Quatre Bras was 19,000 
men ; large re-enforcements arrived during the battle, and at the close of the 
day the duke had 30,000 men. — Remarks on the Campaign q/lSlS, by Cap- 
tain W. Pringle, of the Engineers. 

E E 2 



658 THE KESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

diately opposite, at the distance of about half a mile ; the hamlet 
of Mont St. Jean marked the centre of their position, which ex- 
tended on the right nearly to Merke-Braine, and on the left to 
Ter-la-Haye. In front of the right centre was the chateau of 
Hougoumont, surrounded by its gardens and a small wood; the 
farm-house of La Haye Sainte formed in like manner an advanced 
post in front of the left centre. On his extreme left the Duke of 
Wellington communicated with the Prussians at Wavre by the 
road through Ohain and St. Lambert, the distance between the 
two armies being somewhat more than twelve miles. Marshal 
Blucher had promised the British general to support him at Wa- 
terloo on the 18th with one corps, or more if necessary ; three out 
of the four Prussian divisions eventually took part in the opera- 
tions of the day. 

§ 7. The momentous battle of the 18th of June, 1815, has been 
repeatedly described by writers of the highest intelligence and 
ability, and with the utmost variety and minuteness of detail-, 
but, although the great leading features of the day are incontest- 
able, there are several points concerning Avhich it is still difficult 
to ascertain the precise truth, from the conflicting and contradict- 
ory language of the different narratives. These discrepancies re- 
late chiefly to the comparative numerical strength of the armies 
— to the extent of the co-operation of the Prussians in the actual 
contest at Waterloo — and to the movements of Marshal Grouchy 
and his corps, detached by Napoleon toward Wavre on the pre- 
ceding day. 

Waterloo was not a day of intricate manoeuvres, nor was there 
any remarkable display of military science or skill on either side. 
The object of each commander was simple and obvious. That of 
the Duke of Wellington was to maintain possession of his post on 
the ridge of Mont St. Jean until the promised arrival of Blucher's 
divisions should enable him to assume the offensive with a decided 
superiority of force. That of his adversary was to penetrate and 
.carry the English position by dint of impetuous and incessant at- 
tacks, before the Prussians, fiercely engaged with Grouchy, should 
be able to undertake any movement to the succor of their allies. 
Had he succeeded in effecting this. Napoleon would immediately 
have gained possession of Brussels ; all Belgium would not im- 
probably have risen in his favor; and the face of affairs would 
have been essentially altered. 

The battle began about half past eleven a.m. with a furious at- 
tack on the advanced post of Hougoumont, which the Duke of 
Wellington regarded as the key of his position. Tiie English 
Guards defended themselves at this point with desperate resolu- 
tion ; and though part of the chateau was at Icngtli set on fire by 



A.D. 1815. CAPTURE OF LA HAYE SAINTE. 659 

the French shells, Hougoumont was held undauntedly throughout 
the day, the enemy sacrificing, in their repeated attempts to force 
it, nearly 10,000 men. Three dense masses of infantry, and a 
magnificent body of cuirassiers, advanced meanwhile against the 
•British centre at La Haye Sainte, under cover of a tremendous 
storm of artillery from the heights of La Belle Alliance. The 
gallant Ney dii'ected this movement. His columns penetrated 
beyond La Haye Sainte, and attempted to charge the English 
regiments drawn up in squares on the ci-est of the hill; a terrible 
conflict ensued ; Sir Thomas Ficton, with the brigades of Gener- 
als Kempt and Peck, forced back the assailants across the ridge, 
and, a division of heavy cavalry under Lord Uxbridge falling 
upon them at tlie same moment, they were overwhelmed and 
almost annihilated ; two eagles were captured in this brilliant 
charge, with more than 2000 pi'isoners. But the victorious Brit- 
ish, in the excitement of the moment, pushed their advantage too 
far toward the enemy's line, and became entangled in the masses 
of the French infantry in the valley ; here Generals Picton and 
Sir W. Ponsonby were slain, and the famous fifth division was re- 
duced to a mere skeleton of its former numbers. For five hours 
did Napoleon continue his attempts with unabated vigor to storm 
the centre of the English line, each effort being repulsed with the 
same indomitable gallantly on the part of the defenders. No ad- 
vantage had been gained beyond the occupation of some of the 
inclosures around Hougoumont and the capture of La Haye Sainte. 
But frightful. havoc had been made in the British ranks by these 
repeated and murderous assaults ;" several of the foreign regiments 
had become disordered, and one had taken fliglit, panic-stricken, 
to Bi-ussels. Wellington's situation, although his confidence in 
his army was boundless and unshaken, became every hour more 
critical ; he testified his anxiety by referring constantly to» his 
watch, and longed fervently for the arrival of Blucher. About 
half past four a cannonade in the direction of Planchenoit, on the 
right flank of the French, announced the arrival of the 4th Prus- 
sian division under General Bulow. His march had been im- 
peded by the state of the cross-roads between AYavre and Mont 
St. Jean, at all times difficult from the rugged nature of the ground, 
and which recent heavy rains had rendered almost impracticable. 
Napoleon ordered Count Lobau, with the 6th corps, to keep the 
Prussians in check, while he made another desperate efibrt to 
drive the English from the central plateau of Mont St. Jean, well 
knowing that, unless he could effect this before the Avhole Prus- 
sian army came into action upon his right flank, his ruin was in- 
evitable. While the battle was thus raging at Waterloo, Grouchy, 
whom the emperor had been impatiently expecting throughout the 



660 THE EESTOEATION. Cuap. XXXI. 

clay, had been detained at Wavre by the 3d Prussian corps tinder 
General Thielman, which he strangely mistook for the Avhole of 
Blucher's army. Messenger after messenger was dispatched to 
hurry up the marshal to Napoleon's assistance, but the order fail- 
ed to reach him till late in the afternoon ; and when at length he^ 
crossed the Dyle at Limale, the decisive field of Waterloo had been 
already fought and won. The 1st and 2d Prussian divisions suc- 
cessively appeared on the scene, and began to operate with serious 
eifect on the right and rear of the French. About seven in the 
evening, Napoleon, as a last resource, ordered up the Imperial 
Guard, which had hitherto been kept carefully in reserve, and, 
having marshaled them in person at the foot of his position, 
launched them in two columns against the opposite heights, under 
the command of the intrepid Ney. This was the crisis of the bat- 
tle. The British line gradually converged from the extremity of 
its right wing upon the advancing French as they ascended the 
hill, and poured in so withering a tire as they were in the act of 
attempting to deploy, that, notwithstanding their consummate dis- 
cipline, they were thrown into total confusion ; and being charged 
on the instant by the British Guards, were chased down into the 
valley with tremendous cai'nage. Without allowing the enemy a 
moment to rally from this fatal repulse, AVellington now command- 
ed his Avhole army to advance. But the French Avere utterly dis- 
heartened and panic-struck by the defeat of the Guard ; the at- 
tack of the Prussians, 36,000 strong, had disordered their rear; 
and after a brief and despairing resistance from four remaining 
battalions of the Old Guard, they broke their ranks and tied from 
the field in indescribable dismay. Napoleon, on witnessing the 
failure of his final effort, suddenly turned pale, and muttered in 
a tone of anguish, " They are mingled together!" Then turning 
to Ms staff, "Tout est perdu," he exclaimed; "sauve qui pent !" 
and rode at full gallop from the scene of his discomfiture, scarcely 
pausing till he reached Charleroi. 

Never was disaster more complete, overwhelming, and irreme- 
diable. The fugitives were pursued by the Prussians with savage 
and unrelenting animosity ; no quarter was given ; and thousands 
who had passed unharmed through all the perils of the battle, 
perished miserably beneath lance, sword, and bayonet before they 
gained the frontier. The total loss sustained by the French on 
the 18th is stated by one of their own least partial writei's at 
37,000 killed, Avounded, and prisoners.* 

§ 8. Napoleon, committing to IMarshal Soult, his major-general, 
the task of rallying and reorganizing the remains of his shattered 
army, continued his flight with the utmost speed, and reached 
* Thibandean, vol. vii., p. 39 1 . 



A.D. 1815. NAPOLEON'S DEFEAT AND EXILE. C61 

Paris at four in the morning of the 21st, bearing himself the first 
authentic tidings of the catastrophe at Waterloo. Agitation, ter- 
ror, confusion, despair, overspread the capital. Finding that the 
chambers were firmly I'esolved to extort his abdication, he drew 
up a "Declaration to the French People," in which he stated that, 
having been disappointed in the hope of uniting all parties and 
authorities in the cause of national independence, he offered him- 
self as a sacrifice to the enemies of France. " May they prove 
sincere," he continued, " in their declarations, and have really no 
designs except against my person ! My political life is termina- 
ted ; and I proclaim my son, under the title of Napoleon II., Em- 
peror of the French. The present ministers will form provision- 
ally the council of government." This act of abdication was car- 
ried by FoLiche to the Assembly, who voted an answer of respect- 
ful thanks to Napoleon, but avoided any express acknoAvledgment 
of his son. Napoleon first withdrew to the villa of La Malmaison, 
and thence proceeded to Rochefort on the 29th of June, where he 
hoped, to procure the means of embarking for America. It v\; s 
found impossible, how^ever, to elude the observation of the Briti.-h 
cruisers, which blockaded the whole line of the coast from Brest 
to Bayonne : and at length Napoleon, after discussing and abandon- 
ing several plans of secret escape, determined on appealing for pro- 
tection to the honor and generosity of Great Britain. On the 
14th of July he dispatched a letter by General Gourgaud to the 
prince regent, announcing that his political career was terminated, 
and that he came, " like Themistocles, to thi'ow himself on the 
hospitality of the British people, claiming the protection of their 
laws." On the next day he embarked with his suite on board the 
"Bellerophon," a line-of-battle ship commanded by Captain Mait- 
land, which immediately sailed for England, and on the 24th an- 
chored in Torbay. Here Napoleon was met by the deeply morti- 
fying intelligence that he would not be permitted to land ; and a 
few days later the final decision of the English government Avas 
comrhunicated to him, namely, that he was to be conveyed to the 
island of St. Helena, there to remain for the rest of his life as a 
prisoner of state, under the surveillance of commissioners from all 
the Allied Powers. He protested strongly, but in vain, against 
this harsh proceeding, which nothing but the extreme urgency of 
the circumstances could justify ; and several times uttered threats 
of self-destruction in order to escape from such a dismal and hope- 
less banishment. Sheer necessity by degrees seemed to reconcile 
him to his fate ; he selected Generals Montholon, Bertrand, and 
Gourgaud, with the Count Las Cases, to attend him as companions 
of his exile ; and having been transferred to the " Northumber- 
land," under the commnnd of Sir George Cockburn, the illustrious 



662 THE RESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

captive landed on the 16th of October at St. Helena, where neai-ly 
six years of languishing misery awaited him before his restless and 
exhausted spirit found repose in the grave. 

§ 9. Louis XVIII. (a.d. 1815-1824).— France was now to sub-= 
mit a second time to the indignity of accepting a dynasty imposed 
on her by the bayonets of foreign armies, and that under circum- 
stances far more degrading and oiFensive to the national vanity 
than before. The allied generals absolutely refused to listen to 
any propositions for an armistice until they were under the very 
walls of Paris, Negotiations were opened with the Duke of Wel- 
lington and Blucher, and on the 3d of July a convention was sign- 
ed at St. Cloud, by which Paris was to be surrendered to the Al- 
lies within three days, and the French army, evacuating the city, 
Avas to retire upon the Loire. By the 7th the whole army had 
withdrawn from Paris, of which the Allies immediately took pos- 
session ; and on the next day Louis XVIII. re-entered the city, 
attended by five marshals, escorted by his household, and sur- 
rounded by foreign battalions. His reception was by no means 
generally cordial ; the partisans of the old regime shouted and 
congratulated, but the populace were for the most part gloomily 
silent, or muttered suppressed murmurs of indignation. Talley- 
rand was declared president of the council of ministers ; and the 
king was induced, sorely against his will, to bestow the depart- 
ment of police on the regicide Fouche, the despicable traitor who 
had duped and betrayed all parties in succession, but who was 
now felt, both by the Allies and the ultra-Koyalists, to be too im- 
portant and dangerous a personage to be offended. 

Paris was treated by the exulting Allies as a conquered capital 
The Prussians, especially, showed themselves ungenerous and mer- 
ciless in this hour of vengeance ; Blucher was with difficulty re- 
strained from blowing up the Pont de Jena, and destroying the 
column of the Place Vendome. A harsh order was issued by 
liaron Muffling, govei'nor of Paris, directing the sentinels to fire 
upon any person who might insult them by word, look, or gesture. 
The museum of the Louvre was despoiled of the priceless treasures 
of art which had been collected there from various parts of Europe 
during the reign of Napoleon — a proceeding which deeply wound- 
ed the susceptibilities of the French, although, in fact, it was no 
more than a just restitution of stolen property to its rightful own- 
ers. But these were among the lightest of the penalties inflicted 
on the vanquished. The greater part of the whole French terri- 
tory was occupied by foreign armies. The Russians and Austri- 
ans overspread the eastern provinces — Burgundy, Lorraine, and 
Champagne; Paris and the surrounding country were in the hands 
of the Prussians ; the Englisli, Hanoverians, and Dutch were can- 



A.D. 1815. THE TREATY OF VIENNA. 6G3 

toned in the northern districts; while troops of various nations — 
Spaniards, Italians, and Hungarians — were quartered in the south. 

§ 10. The king himself, ui-ged by indiscreet and violent coun- 
sels, had entered France with plainly avowed threats of penal 
retribution against the Bonapartists. "I owe it," said he,* "to 
the dignity of my crown, to the interest of my people, and to the 
repose of Europe, to exempt from pardon the authors and insti- 
gators of this traitorous plot. They shall be delivered up to the 
vengeance of the laws by the two chambers which I propose to as- 
semble forthwith." The new Legislative Chambers — meeting un- 
der the influence of one of those rapid and uncontrollable i-evul- 
sions of feeling which are so specially characteristic of France — 
not only sanctioned these rigorous measures, but carried their vin- 
dictiveness against the empire and the revolution to still farther 
extremes. The Chamber of Representatives soon proved itself 
" more counter-revolutionary than all Europe, and more Koyalist 
than the king."t The chamber proceeded to invoke tlie king's 
justice against those who had endangered his throne, promising 
tlieir zealous concurrence in forming the new laws necessary to 
their punishment. The violence of the ulti-a-Royalist reaction 
soon produced the fall of the ministry. Fouche was summarily 
dismissed from his post, was banished from France, and escaped 
in disguise. After a time he took up his residence at Linz in 
Austria, and at length died in 1820, entirely forgotten, at Trieste. 
In September M. de Talleyrand resigned his office ; and the king, 
chiefly under the guidance of his new favorite, M. Decazes, a man 
of superior .sense^nd tact, called the Duke of Richelieu to the head 
of his councils. 

After protracted and anxious conferences, the definitive treaty 
between France and her conquerors was signed on the 20tli of 
November, 1815. Its provisions were humiliating beyond all for- 
mer example. An indemnity of seve?i hundred millions of francs 
£28,000,000 sterling) was imposed upon France for the expenses 
of the war, besides which an enormous sum was claimed by way 
of damages for the occupation of the territories of the Allies by 
the French armies. The fortresses of Philippeville, Sarrelouis, 
Marienburg, and Landau were surrendered ; and the fortifications 
of Iluningen wei-e to be demolished. A population of about 
2,500,000 was thus severed from France. Lastly, the entire line 
of the French frontier was to be garrisoned, dui'ing five years, by 
a foreign army of 150,000 men, under the command of a general 
named by the Allies, their pay and maintenance being defrayed by 
France. Tlie five years of occupation wei-e afterward reduced to 

* In his proclamation from Cambray, June 28. 
t Lamartine, Hist, of the Restoration, vol. iii. 



664 THE EESTOEATIOX. Chap. XXXI. 

three; at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in October, 1818, a con- 
vention was signed for the immediate and complete evacuation of 
France by the AlUed forces. 

§ 11. The earlier months of the second Restoration did not 
pass without violent and bloody outbreaks of popular fury in the 
provinces, especially in the south. Upon the news of the disaster 
of Waterloo, the ruffianly mob of Marseilles rose against the Bo- 
napartists, numbers of whom were inhumanly massacred. Mar- 
shal Brune, who had commanded for Napoleon in that district, 
was attacked by the populace at a hotel in Avignon, and assas- 
sinated in his apartment. Fearful outrages were perpetrated 
against the Protestants of Nismes. These ferocious excesses of 
the multitude were suppressed, though with some difficulty, by 
the Duke of Angouleme ; and it must be admitted, to the credit 
of the Bourbons, that the examples of extreme vengeance on the 
opposite party were by no means numerous. Two victims of high 
distinction were, however, sacrificed — General Labedoyere and 
Marshal Ney. 

Labedoyere, an attached and zealous personal friend of Na- 
poleon, had been the soul of the conspiracy which placed him for 
the second time on the throne. It was the defection of his regi- 
ment at Grenoble that determined the whole army in the emper- 
oi-'s favor, and enabled him to march without a shadow of opposi- 
tion to Paris. Labedoyere was discovered by the police in Paris 
in disguise, and was handed over to a court-martial for trial. The 
facts of the case were too notorious to require to be established by 
evidence, and admitted of no vindication. He was unanimously 
sentenced to death, and paid the penalty of his treason on the 
plain of Grenelle on the 19th of August. 

Marshal Ney had escaped from Paris, with a false name and 
passport, immediately after the capitulation. He proceeded first 
toward the frontier of Switzerland, but, being apprehensive of vi- 
olence from the Austrians, sought refuge afterward in the interior 
of France, and was arrested at the chateau of Bessonis, among 
the mountains of the Cantal.* He was condemned to death by 
an immense majority of the peers : seventeen only had the courage 
to vote for a commutation of the capital penalty. Earnest and 
importunate appeals were made to the king, the Duke of Riche- 
lieu, and even to the Duke of Wellington, for the life of the illus- 
trious culprit ; but the excited passions of the Royalists prevailed 
against the dictates of humanity. Early in the morning of the 
7th of December the hero of the Moskowa and the Beresina, the 

* Ney was discoA-ered by means of a Turkish sabre, of peculiar form and 
exquisite workmanship, which he had left accidentally on a table in the salon 
of the chateau. It was a present from Napoleon. 



A.D. 1815-1818. EXECUTION OF MURAT. 665 

" bravest of the brave," was conveyed in a carriage to an appoint- 
ed spot in the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace, where a platoon 
of grenadiers awaited him. He fell dead instantaneously, pierced 
by thirteen bullets in the head and breast. 

The brilliant but rash and headstrong Murat, ex-king of Naples, 
met a tragical fate in the autumn of 1815, in consequence of a 
ridiculous attempt which he made to recover his forfeited throne. 
Having landed with about thirty followers on the coast of Lower 
Calabria, he was almost instantly arrested by a detachment of the 
Neapolitan troops, and handed over to a court-martial, which sen- 
tenced him to death. He was shot in front of the castle of Pizzo 
on the 14th of October, 1815. He met death with the utmost 
firmness and heroism, fixing his eyes steadily in his last moments 
on the portrait of his wife. 

§ 12. The Chamber of Deputies meanwhile pursued its reac- 
tionary course with reckless ardoi", and showed symptoms of a de- 
sign to annul the Constitutional Charter under pretext of revising 
some of its articles. Their pretensions, which tended to exalt 
them above the law, and to absorb all the functions of govern- 
ment, were steadily resisted by Louis, with the support of M. 
Decazes; and on the 5th of September, 1816, a royal tfrdonnance 
suddenly appeared, dissolving the chamber, convoking the electoral 
colleges for the 4th of October, and announcing that the king was 
determined to reign in strict accordance with the provisions of 
the Charter. This vigorous blow effectually arrested the march 
of the ultra-Royalists. The result of the new elections was de- 
cidedly favorable to the moderate and Constitutional party for 
which the king and his advisers had wisely declaimed themselves. 
A new law on the important subject of elections Avas passed 
(1817), by which the elective power was placed chiefly in tlie 
hands of the small proprietors and the bourgeoisie, most of whom 
were of moderate views in politics. 

A new cabinet Avas formed in December, 1818; Decazes was 
in reality its chief, though he took the secondary post of minister 
of the interior ; General Dessolles became president of the coun- 
cil. M. Decazes now found a powerful support in the new-born 
party of the Doctrinaires, which comprised many men of transcend- 
ent talent and enlarged conceptions, such as Koyer-Collard, Mole, 
Pasquier, De Barante, Guizot, Villemain, and Mounier. Several 
of these were influential writers in the public press. On the 
other hand, the party called Independents now began to rise into 
notice in the Legislature, and formed the nucleus of an opposition 
which eventually overthrew the Bourbon throne in the memor- 
able three days of July. 

§ 13. The Duke of Berry, second son of the Count of Artois, 



666 THE RESTORATION. Chap, XXXI. 

was assassinated on the night of the 13th of February, 1820, as 
he was conducting the duchess his wife to her carriage after a 
performance at the Opera. The murderer was a man named 
Louvel, by trade a saddler, deeply imbued with fanatical revolu- 
tionary opinions ; he had long meditated an act of violence against 
the Bourbon family, whom he abhorred as tyrants and the most 
cruel enemies of France. The wretch declared that he had se- 
lected the Duke of Berry for his victim because that prince ap- 
peared the most likely to carry on the royal line of succession ; 
his elder brother, the Duke of Angouleme, being childless. He 
expressed no repentance or remorse, and repeatedly afiii'med that 
he had no accomplices. The news of this atrocious crime thrcAV 
Paris into a state of general ferment and commotion ; the most 
extravagant rumors were circulated, among which that of a des- 
perate conspiracy for the destruction of the Bourbons and the 
overthrow of the throne became widely prevalent. The ultra- 
Eoyalists resolved to take advantage of the excitement of the pub- 
lic mind to rid themselves of the favorite minister who thwarted 
their ascendency. The Count of Artois declared that it would 
be impossible for him to remain at the Tuileries unless Decazes 
were renrfeved from the king's counsels ; and Louis, overcome by 
the impassioned entreaties of his bereaved brother, and his niece 
the Duchess of Angouleme, at length consented, though with ex- 
treme reluctance, to sacrifice his favorite. Decazes retired from 
office on the 20th of February, receiving at the same time mai-ks 
of distinguished favor, sympathy, and confidence from his royal 
mastei'. 

The reins of power were now seized by the party which saw 
no safety for the state except in a system of harsh repressive laws 
and government by arbitrary pi'erogative. The Duke of Riche- 
lieu, after some hesitation, became premier. He forthwith pro- 
posed and carried in the chambers a measui-e for suspending the 
liberty of the subject, by which power was given to the ministers 
to arrest and detain, without warrant from a court of law, any 
person suspected of intriguing against pui)lic safety or any mem- 
ber of the royal family. A new law was proposed respecting the 
electoral suffrage, which excited the most vehement opposition, 
but was at length passed amid scenes of turbulence and disorder 
which recalled the most stormy days of the National Convention. 
It enacted that the electors of each arrondissement wgyq to nomi- 
nate a list of candidates, from Avhicli the electors of the depart- 
inerit, consisting of those who were the most highly rated in taxa- 
tion, were to choose the members of the Legislature, The effect 
of this was manifestly to place a preponderant influence in the 
hands of the richer landed proprietors, the vast majority of whom 



A.D. 1820, 1821. DEATH OF NAPOLEOiSr. 667 

were zealous Royalists. It became known as the "law of the 
double vote^' because it permitted the electors of the higher class 
to vote first in the colleges of the arrondissements, and afterward 
a second time in those which met at the chief towns of the de- 
partments. 

§ 14. The young widow of the Duke of Berry (Caroline Louisa, 
sister of the King of the Two Sicilies) gave birth, on the 29th of 
September, 1820, to a prince, more than seven months after the 
death of his father. The infant received the names of Henry 
Charles Ferdinand, and the title of Duke of Bordeaux. This 
event, so full of good omen for the continuance of the reigning dy- 
nasty, was hailed with the warmest demonstrations of joy by the 
court, the government, and all partisans of the Bourbons through- 
out France. 

The first elections under the new law took place in November. 
It was very soon apparent tha^t the ultra-Koyalists had acquired 
a substantial and decided advantage by the system of the double 
vote. The departmental colleges named without exception men 
pledged to strict monarchical and aristocratical principles ; thoso 
chosen in the arrondissements were more moderate, but the gen- 
eral result gave an overwhelming majority to the supporters of 
tlie government. The Liberals could not count on more than 75 
Votes in the new diamber ; and, as soon as the session com- 
menced, the dominant party plainly announced their purpose of 
carrying things henceforth with a high hand. 

Napoleon expired at Longwood, the house which had been built 
for him by the English government at St. Helena, on the 5th of 
May, 1821, in the fifty-second year of his age. For many months 
previously the ex-emperor had been visibly declining in health ; 
his disease was a scirrhous ulcer in the stomach, which he seems 
to have inherited from his father. The malady was no. doubt ag- 
gravated by the mental distress and despondency occasioned by 
his situation ; the unfa^'orable climate of the island, and the dis- 
use of the habits of active exercise to which he had been so long 
accustomed, may also, in some degree, have hastened his end. The 
later years of his captivity were much embittered by a series of 
vexatious disputes with the governor. Sir Hudson Lowe, in which, 
though Napoleon's behavior was often unreasonable and even in- 
sulting, the fault does not seem to have been always wholly on his 
side. His corpse was interred Avith military honors at Slane's 
Valley, a retired and favorite spot Avhich he himself had chosen 
for the purpose, in the centre of the island. The removal of one 
whose mighty genius had for so many years overawed the thrones 
and swayed the destinies of Europe produced a less profound sen- 
sation than might have been expected. Napoleon had been po- 



G68 THE EESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

litically dead from the date of his second abdication in 1815, and 
public affairs in Fi-ance had subsequently taken a turn quite un- 
connected with his interests; yet by the whole of the Liberal 
party the memory of the departed hero was inseparably identified 
with the glory and grandeur of France, and the immediate effect 
of his death was to unite the Bonapartists with the disaffected of 
all classes in a fresh league of resistance to the despotism of the 
Bourbons. On the other hand, the party in power, now relieved 
from all apprehension of the reappearance of the arch-disturber 
of European peace, pursued with increased vigor their reactionary 
and oppressive schemes. 

§ 15. The misgovernmcnt of the restored Bourbon dynasties in 
Spain and Italy had been so flagrant, inveterate, and intolerable, 
that in the year 1820 insurrectionary troubles broke out in both 
kingdoms. An army assembled at Cadiz for an expedition against 
some rebellious colonies in America, revolted under the influence 
of General O'Donnell and other officers, and proclaimed the Lib- 
eral Constitution of the year 1812. The insurrection spread rap- 
idly to Madrid and throughout the kingdom ; the pressure was ir- 
resistible ; and Ferdinand VII., finding that he had only to choose 
between submission and the loss of his crown, announced on the 
7th of March his acceptance of the Constitution imposed on him 
by the nation. He was also compelled to banish the Jesuits, to 
suppress the Inquisition, and to restore the liberty of the press. 
The example of Spain was soon followed by Portugal, and a rev- 
olutionary movement also took place at Naples, in consequence 
of wliich King Ferdinand was constrained to recognize a consti- 
tution framed upon the Spanish pattern. This latter outbreak 
was mainly the work of the secret society called the Carbonari, a 
powerful and well-organized band of agitators, numbering upward 
of 500,000 members in Italy alone, and possessing affiliated branch- 
es in Fi-ance^md other countries. Commotions of a similar char- 
acter at Turin drove the king, Victor Amadeus, from his capital, 
and led him to abdicate his crown. 

The thi'ee»-sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, after their 
memorable triumph in 1815, had entered into a solemn mutual en- 
gagement which received the name of the " Holy Alliance." This 
celebrated compact ostensibly pledged the monarchs to take the 
precepts of Christianity for their rule of government, and to as- 
sist and support each other on all occasions in the spirit of broth- 
erly sympathy and affection, regarding themselves as delegates of 
heaven to govern three branches of the same great Chi'istian fam- 
ily. But this language had a secret meaning, which was revealed 
by subsequent events. There can be no doubt that the contract- 
ing parties considered it as binding them to, enforce submission to 



A.D. 1821-1823. FRENCH INTERVENTION IN SPAIN. (569 

arbitrary and absolute power throughout Europe, and to suppress 
all movements in the cause of popular liberty. In accordance 
with this principle, the Holy Alliance made no scruple in inter- 
fering vigorously in defense of the Kings of Spain, Naples, and 
Sardinia, against their rebellious subjects. They announced, in 
a meeting at Troppau, their resolution to sanction no institution 
as legitimate which did not flow spontaneously from the will of 
the monarch ; they marched an army of 80,000 men to Naples, 
overthrew the constitutional government, and reinstated Ferdi- 
nand ; Turin was in like manner occupied by an Austrian gen- 
eral, who restored the absolute monarchy. 

§ 16. The sovereigns of the Holy Alliance now met in congress 
at Verona, and persuaded Louis XVIII. to send an army into 
Spain, in order to replace the supreme authority in the hands of 
Ferdinand. In December, 1821, the Duke of Richelieu had re- 
signed office, and a new ministry was nominated at the dictation 
of the Count of Artois, of which M. de Villele became premier. 
This new ministry seconded •vvarmly the schemes of the Holy Al- 
liance ; and Ijouis, in his speech at the opening of the chambers, 
announced that 100,000 French soldiers, commanded by the Duke 
of Angouleme, were about to pass the Spanish frontier. 

The French crossed the Bidassoa on the 7th of April, 1823. 
The Constitutionalists of Spain offered but a feeble and desultory 
opposition ; and on the approach of the Duke of Angouleme to 
Madrid, the Cortes fled precipitately to Seville, and thence to 
Cadiz, carrying off with them the helpless Ferdinand, whom they 
constrained to sanction their proceedings Avith his name. On the 
1st of June the Duke of Angouleme quitted Madrid on his march 
to the south, and, without encountering any hostile force, encamp- 
ed with his army in front of Cadiz on the IGth of August. Here 
the Cortes stood resolutely on their defense. But on the 31st 
of August the Spanish batteries were stormed and carried with 
trifling loss, the Duke of Angouleme greatly distinguishing him- 
self by his coolness and gallantry. This success decided the cam- 
paign, for Cadiz was no longer defensible. The victorious prince, 
in answer to a communication from the town, declined to treat 
until Ferdinand should be freed from all restraint. The Cortes 
had no means of resistance, and on the 1st of October Ferdinand 
repaired to the French camp, where he was welcomed with en- 
thusiasm. Thus replaced unconditionally on an absolute throne, 
the king cast from him all counsels of lenity and moderation ; he 
annulled all the acts extorted from him during his forced submis- 
sion to the Cortes, and proceeded to take summai*y vengeance on 
the authors of his humiliation. The triumph of the French arms 
re-established despotism and tyranny in their most odious shape 
througliout Spain. 



C70 THE EESTOKATION. Chap, XXXI. 

On the othei" hand, the success of the Duke of Angouleme in 
this Spanish campaign rendered signal service to the Bourbon 
monarchy in France, by associating that name once more with the 
martial glory of the nation. The friends of absolutism made full 
use of this opportune advantage. The ultra-Royalists and the 
party of the Jesuit ^'■congregation" were intoxicated with joy, and 
set no bounds to their arrogant pretensions. In the elections of 
the spring of 1824 the government resorted without scruple to 
fraud, corruption, intimidation, and discreditable manoeuvres of 
all kinds, in order to secure an overwhelming majority in the rep- 
resentative chamber. By these iniquitous means a Chamber of 
Deputies was returned in 1824 which contained only nineteen lib- 
eral members. M. de Villele now carried a law to repeal the 
regulation for the annual renewal of a fifth part of the chamber, 
and lo prolong its existence for a period of seven years, at the end 
of which time a dissolution and general election Avere to take 
place. 

The i*eign of Louis XVIII. was brought to a close on the 16th 
of September, 1824, when he expired at the Tuileries after severe 
and lengthened sufferings. In his last moments he earnestly rec- 
ommended to the Count of Artois that system of prudent modera- 
tion which had enabled him to preserve his throne during a season 
of violent party agitation and extreme difficulty. " The Charter," 
said the dying monarch, " is the best inheritance I can leave you." 
Then placing his hand on the head of the young Duke of Bor- 
deaux, "May Charles X.," he added, "be careful oi {menage) the 
throne of this child !" Louis possessed intellectal abilities above 
the average, and had improved his natural powers by diligent 
study and literary and philosophical pursuits. . In the bitter school 
of adversity and exile he had learned invaluable lessons of pa- 
tience, fortitude, and self-control; these supported him through 
years of misfortune, and were scarcely less useful amid the mani- 
fold embarrassments and dangers of the Restoration. The Con- 
stitutional Charter, Avhen once he had conceded it, was honestly 
and fii-mly adhered to by Louis ; and if he was unable to carry 
out the liberal policy inaugurated by the ministry of Decazes, 
this must be imputed to the unfortunate influence of his presump- 
tive heir and other relatives and friends, which, under the circum- 
stances, it Avas next to impossible for him to resist. Personally, 
he was content with a limited monarchy, and fully comprehended 
the principles upon which alone it was possible, in those critical 
times, to govern France ; but his advanced age and painful infirm- 
ities disabled him from giving complete effect to these convictions, 
and it Avas beyond his power to transmit them to those yvlxo were 
to foUoAV him. 



A.D. 1824-18-27. CORONATION OF CHARLES X. 671 

§ 17. Charles X. (a.d. 1824-1830). — Charles Philippe, count 
of Artois, who now succeeded to the throne as Charles X., was 
much inferior in natural understanding to his predecessor, and 
had paid little or no attention to the cultivation of his mind. 
With regard to his political views and conduct he might claim at 
least the merit of consistency ; from his youth upward he had 
maintained without variation or compromise the same lofty mo- 
narchical principles which had prevailed under the most absolute 
of his ancestors. He had steadily opposed all concessions to the 
authors of the Revolution ; had been the first to emigrate from 
France in 1789 ; and re-entered it with precisely identical ideas 
and prejudices at the Restoration. In his early days he had been 
addicted to licentious pleasure ; and having reformed in later life, 
had become strictly, not to say superstitiously, devout — so much 
.so that he was generally supposed to be slavishly subject to priestly 
and Jesuitical influence. This impression, which, however, seems 
to have been to a great extent mistaken,* rendered the new sov- 
ereign from the first an object of mistrust to the great mass of the 
people, and was one of the main causes of his subsequent misfor- 
tunes. In disposition Charles was frank, amiable, and warm- 
hearted ; and the peculiar graciousness and cordiality of his man- 
ner secured him the sincere attachment of those nearest to his 
person. 

Charles X. was crowned in the Cathedral of Reims on the 29th 
of May, 1825, the ancient ceremonial handed down from the Mid- 
dle Ages being punctually observed in all its details on the occa- 
sion. Even the Saints Ampoule, or miraculous phial containing 
the consecrated oil, which had been broken by order of the Repub- 
lican Convention, was repaired and used, to give additional effect 
to the solemnity. 

§ 18. In the sessions of 1826 and 1827 the measures proposed 
by government were such as to excite considerable suspicion and 
dissatisfaction. In the latter year a proposed law of vexatious 
restrictions on the liberty of the press added seriously to the pre- 
vailing irritation against the government and the court. A gen- 
eral storm of clamor Avas raised by this impolitic step ; the court 
yielded at the eleventh hour to the threatening manifestations of 
public opinion, and on the 17th of April the obnoxious bill was 
withdrawn. A few days afterward the king experienced a some- 
what equivocal reception at a grand review of the national guard 
on the Champ de Mars ; exclamations of " Vive la Charte," and 
others betokening irritation, reached his ears more frequently than 
the usual shouts of "Vive le Roi ;" and after Charles had left the 
ground, the soldiers gave vent to their ill-humor in loud outcries 
* See Lamartine, Hisl. de la Restauration,\o\. iv., p. 2G7. 



672 THE KESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

of "Down with the ministers! down with the Jesuits!" The 
king and the royal family, as well as the members of the cabinet, 
were highly incensed by this demonstration. A council was held 
immediately ; and partly in anger, partly in terror, it was resolved 
to proceed to a severe measure of coercion : on the following morn- 
ing (April 30), a royal ordonnance disbanded the national guard 
of Paris. Although astounded by this bold exercise of the prerog- 
ative, the capital remained tranquil ; but De Villele, whom the 
king had retained in office, now felt that the tide was turning 
strongly against him, and induced the king to pronounce the dis- 
solution of the Chamber of Deputies. The new elections were 
fixed for a very early day, so as to disconcert, if possible, the ar- 
rangements of the opposition camp. But this manoeuvre was in- 
effectual ; a hasty coalition took place between the Liberals and 
£f large section of the ultra-Royalists, and their united votes sent 
to the chamber a powerful phalanx of representatives pledged to 
the overthrow of the ministry. Villele saw himself defeated, and, 
without attempting to meet the Legislature, placed his resignation 
in the hands of the king. The cabinet Avas reconstructed from 
the ranks of the moderate Royalists, M. de Martignac taking the 
post of premier. 

§ 19. It was in the course of this year (July 6, 1827) that a 
treaty was entered into by France, Great Britain, and Russia for 
the purpose of putting a stop to the hostilities between the Otto- 
man Porte and the unfortunate Greeks, who were then in a state 
of general insurrection against their Turkish oppressors. The 
three powers dispatched a naval squadron, under the command 
of Sir Edward Codrington, who destroyed the Turkish navy in 
the battle of Navarino (Oct. 20, 1827).* The sultan, no longer 
possessing a maritime force, soon ordered his general to evacuate 
the Morea, which, in the spring of 1828, was occupied by the 
French under General Maison ; and the Turkish government 
shortly afterward accepted the proposals of the Allies for an ac- 
commodation. The negotiations terminated in a treaty of peace, 
by which, after a painful struggle of ten yeai*s, the independence 
of the Greek nation was finally acknowledged and assured. 

The Martignac cabinet, anxious to disarm the popular indigna- 
tion excited by their predecessors, brought forward several' meas- 
ures of a liberal tendency, and professed a spirit of sincere con- 
formity with the provisions of the Charter. An important con- 
cession to public opinion was made by a royal ordonnance of the 
13th of June, 1828, which suppressed the educational establish- 
ments directed by the Jesuits, and subjected all seminaries through- 
out the kingdom to the immediate control of the University of 
* Sec The StiuknVs Hume (Harpers' edition), v- 730. 



A.D. 1829, 1830. CHANGE OF MINISTRY. 673 

Paris. This decree gave unqualified offense to the bisliops and 
the party of the " Congregation," and Charles confessed to his 
ministers that he signed it with extreme reluctance and regret. 
Charles had never given his cordial confidence to M. de Martignac; 
and in the following year (8th of August, 1829) he dismissed the 
ministry and appointed Prince Polignac the head of the new ad- 
ministration. Count Labourdonnaie was named minister of the 
interior, and Count Bourmont minister at war. The nomination 
of such a cabinet was looked upon as an open declaration of war 
against the Charter, the Constitution, and all the liberties of 
Frenchmen. Three more unpopular and odious names than those 
of Polignac, Labourdonnaie, and Bourmont could scarcely have 
been found in the kingdom. The first represented the vicille cour 
and the emigrants of the Revolution, with all their implacable 
rancor and obstinate bigotry; the second had been prominently 
concerned in the proscriptions and bloodshed of the Restoration ; 
the last was identified in the eyes of the nation with treacherous 
desertion to the enemy on the eve of a decisive campaign. Paris 
became intensely agitated, and the excitement spread rapidly into 
the provinces. 

The chambers were opened by a speech from the throne on the 
2d of March, 1830. An address was voted in reply, in Avhicli they 
plainly declared that the present ministry did not enjoy the confi- 
dence of the country. The gauntlet was thus fairly thrown down, 
and a contest followed, in which the antagonist parties were not 
so much the chambers and the ministry as the French nation and 
the Bourbon monarchy. The address was carried by 221 votes 
against 181, the majority being obtained by a coalition between 
the two sections of the Left with the Doctrinaires and the " defec- 
tion"' party. This result was hailed by one of the daily papers 
as "the first manifesto of the Revolution of 1830." 

Charles X. had firmly determined to support his minister against 
the chamber; "No compromise, no surrender," was his declared 
motto. On the IGth of May he dissolved the chamber, and con- 
voked the electciMl colleges for a new election. Both parties now 
prepared for the decisive struggle. The 221 deputies who had 
voted the obnoxious address were rechosen without exception, and 
many additional seats were Avrested from the Royalists ; the op- 
position counted at least 270 voices in the new Legislature. 

§ 20. A series of insults and injuries oflfered to the French con- 
suls and merchants by the Dey of Algiers had been left, in spite 
of vigorous remonsti'ances, without reparation, and a formidable 
expedition, under the command of Bourmont, minister of war, 
was now undertaken in order to obtain redress by force of arms. 
The disembarkation on the Alcerine coast was effected on the 

F F 



674 THE RESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

14th of June. A desperate engagement was fought on the 19th, 
when the French forced the intrenched camp of the enemy, inflict- 
ing on them terrible slaughter. On the 4th of July Bourraont 
made himself master of a fort which completely commanded the 
town and citadel of Algiers, and the dey immediately afterward 
capitulated. The victorious army entered the city, where the 
spoil of all kinds which fell into their hands Avas prodigious. The 
treasure accumulated by successive deys amounted to upward of 
48 millions of francs. This important conquest has been perma- 
nently retained by France ; and Algiers forms at the present day 
by far the most extensive, if not the most flourishing of her colo- 
nial dejjendencies. 

§ 21. But the glory of this triumph had no eifect in calming the 
political ferment and irritation which had overspread the king- 
dom. A crisis was evidently at hand. No sooner was it known 
that the voice of the nation had strongly ratified the vote of the 
late chamber, than Charles and his advisers determined to have 
recourse to a strained interpretation of the 14th article of the 
Charter, which, in somewhat vague and ambiguous terms, author- 
ized the sovereign to " make regulations and decrees necessary for 
the execution of the laws and the safety of the state." By virtue 
of this clause the king proceeded to assume a temporary dictatoi*- 
ship, and to alter and abrogate some of the most essential provis- 
ions of the Charter. The five celebrated oj^domiaiices were signed 
at St. Cloud on the 25th of July, and published in the Iloniteur 
on the following day. The first of these suspended the liberty of 
the press ; no journal or periodical publication was to appear 
without a previous license from the government, which Avas to be 
renewed every three weeks, and might be withdrawn. The sec- 
ond decree dissolved the newly-elected Chamber of Deputies. 
The third introduced organic changes into the system of election, 
reduced the number of representatives from 430 to 258, and pro- 
hibited any amendment to a law unless it had been proposed or 
assented to by the crown. The fourth convoked the two cham- 
bers for the 28th of September ensuing. The fifth contained 
some new nominations to the Council of State from the extreme 
Koyalist party. 

The first to revolt against this audacious violation of the Con- 
stitution were the journalists and proprietors and publishers of 
newspapei's, comprising some of the most enlightened and influ- 
ential classes of the capital. Headed by M. Thiers, at that time 
editor of the National, they held a numerous uj^eeting, and drew up 
a bold protest against the coiqj (Ve'tat, which received forty-four sig- 
natures. Symptoms of agitation appeared at the l^ourse, where 
the funds fell suddenly as much as 4 per cent. ; but public tran- 
quillity remained undisturbed. 



A.D. 1830. EEVOLUTION OF 1830. (375 

On the morning of the 27th of July Marshal Marmont received 
his appointment to the supreme command of the military force in 
Paris and its neighborhood. It is said that the first collision be- 
tween the authorities and the people took place in the Eue St. 
Honore, opposite the corner of the Palais Royal. The gendarmes 
were assailed with stones ; the officer commanding a small de- 
tachment of the guards, having in vain attempted to disperse the 
crowd, lost patience, and ordered his men to fire ; they obeyed 
after some hesitation, when one of the rioters fell dead, and three 
others wounded. Such Avas the commencement of the Revolution 
of the "three glorious days of July." Barricades were thrown up 
with marvelous rapidity at the entrance of the Rue de Richelieu 
and of the Rue de I'Echelle ; behind these the multitude defend- 
ed themselves for some time against the troops, but at last the 
barricades were forced, and the soldiers advanced down the Rue 
St. Honore', sweeping away their opponents, several of whom were 
killed and severely wounded. The same scenes were repeated 
elsewhere ; the military patrolled the streets till eleven at night, 
and then retired to their barracks, when all appearance of tumult 
ceased throughout the city. 

Next morning, the 28th, Paris was declared in a state of siege. 
Meanwhile the citizens had been on the alert at an early hour ; 
they attacked and gained possession of the Hotel de Ville, where 
they immediately hoisted the tri-color flag, which soon floated also 
from the towers of Notre Dame ; the great bourdon of the Cathe- 
dral then rang out the tocsin of alarm and insurrection through- 
out the city. At this crisis Marmont wrote urgently to the king 
to represent the necessity of taking measures of pacification while 
there was yet time ; but the only answer he received Avas a posi- 
tive order to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. The mar- 
slial accordingly put his troops in motion in five columns — an ar- 
rangement which has been much censured, as they were thus too 
far separated to be able to support each other effectively, and 
were, besides, compelled to fight in narrow, crooked, and crowded 
streets, where the insurgent populace had a manifest advantage. 
A series of bloody conflicts now commenced ; the whole popula- 
tion of Paris Avas transfoi'med into an army ; every house became 
a forti'ess, from which the inhabitants successfully assailed tlie 
soldiers in a thousand different ways, and for the most part with- 
out suffering at all seriously in return. The royal troops, how- 
ever, prevailed, after a protracted contest of several hours, on 
most of the points which they attacked, particularly at the Hotel 
de Ville. In the afternoon, a deputation, consisting of MM. Laf- 
fitte, Casimir Pe'riei-, General Lobau, and others, sought an intei'- 
view with Marmont, and offered a suspension of arras on condi- 
tion tliat the ministers siiould be dismissed and the offensive or- 



676 THE RESTORATION. Chap. XXXI. 

donnances "vvitlulrawn. The marshal wrote a second time to the 
king, earnestly recommending that these terms should be accept- 
ed; but Charles, with reckless and fatal infatuation, desired him 
in reply to " hold fast, to concentrate his forces on the Carrousel 
and the Place de la Concorde, and to act in masses." 

On the 29th, two regiments stationed on the Place Vendome 
suddenly refused to obey their officers, and fraternized with the 
people. Marmont, upon this, ordered off another regiment, whose 
fidelity he suspected, to the Champs Elysees ; and, by mistake, a 
battalion of the Swiss was at the same moment withdrawn from 
tlie Louvi'e, which was thus exposed without sufficient defense to 
the furious assaults of the mob. The remaining Swiss battalion, 
seized with panic, abandoned the court of the Carrousel, and rush- 
ed in terror and confusion through the arched gateway of the Tu- 
ileries into the garden. Instantly the triumphant insurgents pour- 
ed by thousands into the Louvre, and in a few minutes were in 
undisputed possession of this commanding post. Marmont, find- 
ing his troops discouraged and disorganized, now ordered a retreat 
into the Champs Elyse'es ; and shortly afterward, in consequence 
of a message from St. Cloud, evacuated Paris with his whole force. 
The populace, like an overwhelming torrent, then burst into the 
Tuileries, and on discovering that all opposition had ceased, and 
that the metropolis was completely in their powei", celebrated their 
victory with prolonged and frantic acclamations. Wild excesses 
Avere committed in the intoxication of the moment ; the palace 
M'as sacked ; the magnificent furniture broken to pieces, hurled 
from the windows, and cast into the Seine. The conquerors, how- 
ever, almost universally abstained from theft; one or two instances 
of it Avhich occurred were promptly and severely punished. 

§ 22. Marmont himself was the first to announce the catastro- 
phe to the unfortunate king at St. Cloud. Charles was now to 
experience the fatality Avhich so constantly attends the counsels 
of minds at once weak and obstinate. He consented to yield the 
points which, conceded only twenty-four hours earlier, might per- 
haps have saved his throne. He dismissed the ministers, and 
named the Duke of Mortemart president of the council ; he re- 
voked the ordonnances, though Avith great hesitation and reluc- 
tance ; he re-established the national guard ; he convoked the 
two chambers for the 3d of August. But these measures came 
too late. Paris had already made its decision, and the elder 
branch of the l^oui'bons was for the second time dethroned. A 
meeting had been held at the house of the great banker Laffitte, 
when a new municipal council was appointed. Their first act 
Avas to place General Lafayette at the head of the national guard 
— an appointment every Avhere Avelcomed with enthusiasm ; the 
Avhite flag Avas then hastily removed, and tlie tri-color cockade 



A.D. 1830. LOUIS PHILIPPE MADE KING OF FRANCE. G77 

and ensign restored in all quarters of the city. A proclamation 
drawn up by MM. Thiers and Migiiet was published throughout 
Paris, recommending in energetic terms the transfer of the crown 
to the Duke of Orleans. Upon an invitation addressed to him 
by the peers and deputies, the duke repaired to Paris on the 
night of the 30th, and the next morning signified his acceptance 
of the ollice of lieutenant general of the kingdom. He was im- 
mediately proclaimed by the chambers. On assuming his func- 
tions, he announced that "the Charter should be thenceforth a 
realityr 

Charles quitted St. Cloud for Versailles and the Trianon, and 
arrived on the night of the 31st at the chateau of Rambouillet. 
The army, however, now began to desert him by whole regiments ; 
and on the news of the decisive events at Paris, the king took the 
resolution of abdicating the throne in favor of his grandson, the 
Duke of Bordeaux. The dauphin, formerly Duke of Angouleme, 
in like manner resigned his rights to his nephew. The act of ab- 
dication was signed on the 2d of August. Charles X. now set 
out for Normandy under the protection of his guards, commanded 
by Marmont, and on the 16th of August embarked at Cherbourg 
for the shores of England, with the dauphin and dauphiness, the 
Duchess of Berry, the Duke of Bordeaux, and a very numerous 
suite of attendants. The squadron anchored at Spithead on the 
17th. The royal fugitives took up their residence for a short 
time at Lulworth Castle, in Dorsetshire, the seat of the ancient 
Roman Catholic family of Weld, but eventually removed to Holy- 
rood Castle at Edinburgh, which was placed at their disposal by 
the British government. 

Before he finally quitted the soil of France, Charles received 
the news of the elevation of his kinsman, the Duke of Orleans, to 
the throne which he had so lately renounced. The duke, in his 
quality of- lieutenant general of the kingdom, opened the session 
of the chambers on the 3d of August. The first business upon 
which they entered was a careful revision of the Charter, which 
was altered in several important particulars. The system of elec- 
tion was greatly improved, the liberty of the press assured, the fa- 
mous 14th Article expunged, and the most ample guarantees pro- 
vided for popular liberty and constitutional government. The 
crown was now offered by the Legislature to Louis Philippe, duke 
of Orleans, to descend to his heirs by perpetual succession in the 
male line, with the title oi King of the French. In a royal sitting 
on the 9th of August the new monarch declared his acceptance 
of the Charter as now amended, and took a solemn oath to ob- 
serve it f\nthfully. He thereupon ascended the throne, and the 
ensigns of royalty were presented to him by Marshals Macdonald, 
Oudinot, ]\Iortior, and otlier great officers. 



f578 THE RESTORATION. CiiAr. XXXI. 

§ 23. Thus did France repudiate forever the venerable but anti- 
quated principle of the "Divine right of Kings." The throne of 
Louis Philippe was founded avowedly upon the contrary theory — 
that sovereignty resides primarily in the inople, and may conse- 
quently be granted or withdrawn at their pleasure ; that the sov- 
ereign is in fact only the delegate and nominee of the nation. The 
experiment of a reconciliation and fusion between the France of 
the ancient legitimate dynasty and that which was the oiFspring 
of the Kevolution had been fairly tried, and had ended, as many 
sagacious thinkers had foretold, in utter and calamitous failure. 
Indeed, it is only wonderful, considering the state of things which 
preceded it, that the Eestoration lasted for so long a period as 
fifteen years. From the very moment of their return the Bour- 
bons occupied a false position ; whatever line of policy they might 
adopt, they could not avoid offending either what may be called 
their own party or the new generation which had grown up with 
the Revolution and the Empire. If they attempted to act con- 
sistently with the traditions of their family and the principles of 
the old monarchy, they were instantly denounced as enemies to 
public liberty, and traitors to the Charter and the Constitution, 
in virtue of which alone their reign was tolerated. If, on the 
other hand, they showed themselves disposed to accept frankly the 
new social system wliich had b.en organized during their exile, 
and to acknowledge candidly the benetits it had secured to the 
great mass of the nation, the ultra-Royalists straightway broke 
forth into indignant protests and reproaches, and prophesied the 
speedy advent of a catastrophe in which the Church and the throne, 
law, oi'der, and society, would all, for the second time, perish to- 
gether. To reduce to union two such discordant and contradict- 
ory elements was manifestly beyond the power of Louis XVIII. 
and Charles X., or, indeed, of any mortal man. Decazes and Vil- 
lele, Richelieu and Chateaubriand, Martignac and Polignac" — the 
statesmen of the old regime, and the most sincere and ardent Con- 
stitutionalists — all failed alike to solve this hopeless problem. At 
length a violent and outrageous stretch of the prerogative threw 
a fatal advantage into the hands of one of the contending parties ; 
it was seized with avidity, and employed with resolution ; and the 
" days of July" were the result. The Bourbons having thus ir- 
retrievably ruined themselves in public opinion, a return to legiti- 
mate government in France is rendered in the highest degree im- 
probable, if not impracticable. Whatever may be the particular 
form of administration preferred from time to time, a succession 
of revolutions seems to be the inevitable legacy bequeathed by the 
eighteenth century to the most enlightened and highly-gifted peo- 
ple in the world. 



GENEALOGY OF THE BOUEBON-ORLEANS FAMILY. 679 



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Interior of the ChiniilAi i 1 l)iimlii- 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

REIGN OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. A.D. 1830-1848. 

§ 1. Early Life of Louis Philippe. § 2. Principles of the Orleans Mon- 
archy; Revolution in the Netherlands. § 3. Trial of the ex-Ministers of 
Charles X. ; Tumults in Paris and the Provinces; Attempt of the Duch- 
ess of Berry in Brittany. § 4. The Secret Societies ; Infernal Machine 
of Fieschi ; the "Laws of September." §5. Parliamentary Conflicts; 
frequent Ministerial Changes; M. Casimir Pe'rier ; M.Thiers; M. Guizot. 
§ G. Repulse of the French at Constantino; Attempt of Louis Napoleon 
at Strasburp. § 7. Four Parties in tlie Chamber; Coalition of MM. 
Thiers and Guizot ; second Administration of M. Thiers. § 8. Affairs of 
the East ; Mehemet Ali ; the Quadruple Treaty ; Campaign in Syria ; 
Submission of Mehemet Ali. § 9. General Indignation in France ; war- 
like Preparations; Fortification of Paris ; Ministry of M. Guizot; Re- 
moval of the Remains of Napoleon from St. Helena to Paris. § 10. Mis- 
understanding in the Affair of Mr. Pritchard ; the Spanish Marriages. 
§11. Death of the Duke of Orleans ; Regency Bill ; Affairs in Algeria ; 
Abd-el-Kader ; Battle of Isly ; Surrender and Imprisonment of Abd-cl- 
Kader. § 12. The Session of 1847; Socialist Agitatioii; the Reform 
Banquets ; Insurrection of February, 1848 ; Disaffection of the National 
Guard. § 13. Attack on the Hotel of Foreign Affairs; Victory of the 
Insurgents; Abdication of Louis Philippe ; Sack of the Tuileries. § 14. 
Scene in the Chamber of Deputies ; Rejection of the Regency ; Procla- 
mation of the Republic ; Escape of the Royal Family to England. 

§ 1. Louis Philippe, whom his principles and character, ratli- 
er than his royal lineage, had thus raised to the throne, Avas the 
eldest son of Philip, duke of Orleans, the notorious "Egalite" of 
the Revolution, and of Louisa, a daughter of the Duke of Pen- 



A. D. 1773-1830. EAKLY LIFE OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 681 

thisvre. He was born at the Palais Royal on the Gth of October, 
1773, and received the title of Duke of Valois. The branch of 
the Bourbon family to which he belonged was descended in a di- 
rect line from Philip, duke of Orleans, the second son of Louis 
XIII. and Anne of Austria. 

His early education, together with that of his brothers the 
Duke of Montpensier and the Count of Beaujolais, was directed 
by the celebrated Countess of Genlis. On the outbreak of the 
llevolutionary war, the young prince, then Duke of Chartres, took 
the field at the head of his regiment of dragoons, and fought with 
distinction by the side of Kellermann and Dumouriez at Valmy 
and Jemmapes. He accompanied the latter general when he took 
refuge in the camp of the Imperialists in April, 1793. After the 
death of his father, the Duke of Orleans, refusing to bear arms 
against France, joined his sister and Madame de Genlis in Swit- 
zerland, where they lived for some time in obscurity under an as- 
sumed name. In 1795 he traveled into the north of Germany, 
Sweden, and Norway, and in the following year sailed from Ham- 
burg for the United States of America. Here he was joined by 
his two brothers ; and after a sojourn of some years in the States, 
during which they were often in considerable distress for money, 
the three princes repaired to Englarj^ in P^ebruary, 1800. The 
Duke of Orleans now sought and obtained a reconciliation with 
the heads of his family, Louis XVIII. and the Count of Artois. 
Subsequently he became a guest at the court of F&rdinand IV., 
the dispossessed King of Naples, at Palermo ; and here was cele- 
brated, in November, 1809, his union with the Princess Marie 
Amelie, daughter of that monarch, by whom he had a numerous 
family. Upon the restoration of Louis XVIII. in 1814, the Duke 
of Orleans returned to France like the other princes of his house, 
and was received with favor and apparent cordiality by the king, 
who intrusted him with the chief militaiy command of the north- 
ern departments. But there can be no doubt that in secret Louis 
regarded his kinsman with jealousy, if not Avith actual dislike ; for, 
independently of ancient family reminiscences, the duke made 
himself generally known as a friend of constitutional liberty, and 
acquired in consequence a degree of influence and popularity Avhich 
gave umbrage to the court. He remained in England during the 
Hundred Days. Upon the second Restoration he re-entered 
France, and took his seat in the chamber of peers; but having 
fallen under suspicion of disaffection, he once more retired to En- 
gland, and did not reappear in France till 1817. During the re- 
mainder of the reign of Louis he took no part in public affairs, 
and lived in tranquillity at his favoi'ite villa of Nenilly; main- 
tainintr, however, his intimacy with the leaders of the liberal par- 

F i.^ 2 



682 LOUIS PHILIPPE. CiiAP. XXXII. 

ty, and lamenting the errors of the ultra-Royalists and the parti 
pretre, who seemed bent on exasperating the people to a second 
revolution. 

The Duke of Orleans has been accused, but apparently without 
just reason, of conspiring against the throne of Charles X. That 
he liad been for many years previously the avowed hope and ral- 
lying-point of those who longed to establish in France a limited 
monarchy and really free popular institutions, is undeniable ; but 
there is nothing to prove that he was induced by the temptations 
of this position to take any step inconsistent, with the duty of a 
loyal subject. He was unquestionably actuated by ambition in 
eventually accepting the throne ; but, if usurpation be ever defens- 
ible, his was certainly not without plausible and strong excuse. 
He was called to the crown by the spontaneous voice of the rep- 
resentatives of the nation at a moment when the rash folly of an 
incapable tyrant had imperiled all the best interests of France. 
Had he failed to respond to the invitation, anarchy and all the 
miseries of civil war would have been almost inevitably the result. 
It is no more than justice, therefore, to give credit to Louis Phil- 
ippe for a patriotic anxiety to be of service to his country at this 
dangerous crisis. His qualifications for the undertaking were 
pre-eminent, and were recognized by all parties. 

§ 2. The two leading principles of the Orleans monarchy were 
peace with foreign powers and constitutional government at home. 
Louis Philippe had no inclination for war ; he knew that France 
had need of repose ; and his object was to strengthen his throne 
by a cordial alliance with all constitutional and free governments, 
especially with that of England, for which he entertained a sincere 
and special admiration. The absolutist states, such as Austria 
and Russia, could not be expected to regard with satisfaction the 
events which had raised him to the throne ; but he purposed to 
gain their confidence by studiously avoiding all interference in 
external politics, except in cases where the interests of France 
were directly involved. With regard to interior administration, 
an honest adherence to the Charter, two legislative chambers, 
freedom of popular election, and a press substantially independent, 
though not left altogether without control, formed the main fea- 
tures of the new system. The king desired, in fact, to assimilate, 
so far as might be practicable and expedient, the constitution of 
France to that of England. 

The Revolution of 1830, like all great national movements 
which have occurred in France, produced a wide-spread sensation 
throughout Europe. Belgium, which, ever since its union with 
Holland in 1815, had manifested a constantly inci'easing antipa- 
thy to the Dutch government, upon the first news of the explosion 



A.D. 1830-1832. REVOLUTION IN THE NETHERLANDS. G83 

at Paris prepared for a general insurrection. It broke out vio- 
lently at Brussels on the 25tli of August, and spread with the ra- 
pidity of lightning to Liege, Louvain, Namur, and other principal 
towns. Prince Frederick, who had been placed at the head of 
an armed force to maintain tranquillity at Brussels, was attacked 
by the populace on the 23d of September, and after a sanguinary 
struggle was compelled to evacuate the city and retire to Antwerp. 
A provisional government was then formed, wliich proclaimed the 
dethronement of King William, and determined that Belgium 
should henceforth constitute an independent state, in perpetual 
separation from Holland. An appeal was now made, both by the 
King of the Netherlands and the Belgian Congress, to the five 
great powers of Europe, and they proceeded to interpose jointly 
for the adjustment of the questions in dispute. By a protocol of 
the 20th of December the independence of Belgium was recog- 
nized, and the crown was bestowed upon Prince Leopold of Saxe- 
Coburg, the widowed husband of the Princess Charlotte of En- 
gland. The prince was proclaimed at Brussels in June, 1831 ; 
and in the course of the following year the political combinations 
connected with the establishment of the Belgic throne were com- 
pleted by the marriage of King Leopold with the Princess Louisa, 
eldest daughter of Louis Philippe. But as the King of Holland 
continued to resist the dismemberment of his dominions, and re- 
fused to evacuate Antwerp and the forts on the Scheldt, the French 
and English governments entered into a farther treaty, in conse- 
quence of which a French array of 50,000 men, under Marshal 
Gerard, was sent to Belgium, and besieged the citadel of Antwerp 
in November, 1832. The place was gallantly defended by Gen- 
eral Chasse with a garrison of 4000 men ; but resistance was 
hopeless against a force so infinitely superior ; and on the 23d of 
December, before the final assault of the great breach, the Dutch 
commandant signed a capitulation. After this decisive success, 
which gave Belgium the free navigation of the Scheldt, the King 
of Holland withdrew his troops, and the French army immediately 
afterward quitted the country. 

§ 3. The internal condition of France during the first years of 
Louis PhiUppe's reign was one of much difficulty and disquietude. 
Serious disturbances were of frequent occm-rence, both in the cap- 
ital and in the provinces ; the state of society was so unsettled 
and excitable, that the smallest spark sufficed to kindle a fresh 
explosion. The first outbreak at Paris took place on the occasion 
of the public trial of the four ex-ministers of Charles X. — Prince 
Polignac, and MM. de Peyronnet, de Chantelauze, and de Guer- 
uon-Ranville. 'I'hey were arraigned before the Chamber of Peers 
in December, 1830, and were condemned to imprisonment for life. 



G84 LOUIS PHILIPPE. Chap. XXXn. 

with the loss of their titles, rank, orders, and civil rights ; but, be- 
cause the sentence fell short of the capital penalty, the populace 
became savagely exasperated, and the gravest apprehensions were 
entertained. 

During the following winter an insurrection broke out among 
the manufacturing population of Lyons ; for three days there was 
desperate fighting in the sti-eets ; and it was found necessary to 
direct a considerable body of troops upon the city, commanded by 
the Duke of Orleans and Marshal Soult. The agitation now be- 
came general throughout the kingdom ; and an attempt was made 
simultaneously by the Legitimists to excite a civil war in La 
Vendee, imder the auspices of the adventurous and eccentric 
Duchess of Berry. Upon this, several of the western depart- 
ments were declared in a state of siege ; fierce and bloody con- 
flicts ensued at different points between the insurgents and the 
royal troops ; but ere long the duchess found that the enterprise 
was hopeless, and took refuge at Nantes, in the house of a fjimily 
devotedly attached to her cause. Here she remained for some 
months in close concealment ; but the secret of her retreat was 
revealed to the government by a treacherous confidant, and on the 
Gth of November, 1832, the unfortunate princess was arrested, 
after a confinement of several hours in a narrow recess in a chim- 
ney, where the heat became at length insupportable. The duchess 
was imprisoned at first in the citadel of Blaye on the Gii'onde, 
Avhere in May, 1833, she unexpectedly gave birth to a daughter; 
and this event led to a confession that she had contracted a secret 
marriage with an Italian nobleman, the Count of Lucchesi-Palli. 
She was forthwith permitted to retire to Palermo ; and after this 
occurrence the Legitimist cause became so much discredited in the 
eyes of the public, that it ceased to be a ground of anxiety to the 
reigning dynasty. 

In June, 1832, the funeral of General Lamarque, an officer well 
known for his liberal or rather democratical opinions, was the oc- 
casion of a Eepublican demonstration at Paris, which led to a col- 
lision between the people and the military. In April, 1834, Ly- 
ons became the theatre of a second insurrection among the oper- 
ative classes, which was put down by Marshal Soult, though not 
without a deplorable sacrifice of life. 

§ 4. These attempts of the Kepublican party were instigated by 
vai'ions secret political associations which sprung up at this un- 
settled period. Their most active members Avere individuals who 
have become notorious in subsequent commotions which have dis- 
tracted France, such as Marrast, Flocon, Raspail, Blanqui, Caus- 
sidiere, Carrel, and Jules Favre. After the revolt at Lyons in 
183-1-, which Avas followed bv renewed distiu'bances at Paris, a 



A.D. 1835, 1836. INFERNAL MACHINE OF FIESCIII. 685 

general trial was held in May, 1835, before tlie Chamber of 
Peers, of all prisoners implicated in the late seditious movements. 
They were sentenced to transportation or to ditierent periods of 
imprisonment. This result was a decisive blow to the secret so- 
cieties ; but a few incorrigible agitators, such as "Barbes and 
Blanqui, still continued to weave obscure plots against the mon- 
archy and public order. 

This year (1835) witnessed the first of a series of desperate at- 
tempts to assassinate Louis Philippe, which were continued at in- 
tervals during the remainder of his reign. On the 28th of Julv 
the king was proceeding to hold a grand review in honor of tlie 
fifth anniversary of the " three glorious days." As the royal 
cortege passed along the Boulevard du Temple a terrific explosion 
took place, and a shower of musket-balls, fired from a window on 
the upper story of one of the houses, scattered death, mutilation, 
and panic on all sides. The king escaped uninjured; the Duke 
of Orleans received a slight contusion ; but Marshal Morticr 
(Duke of Treviso), General Lachasse, and twelve other persons 
Avere killed on the spot, while forty were more or less seriously 
wounded. The assassin was a miscreant named Fieschi, a native 
of Corsica ; he had constructed an " infernal machine," consisting 
of twenty-four musket-barrels fixed hori^ntally on a wooden frame, 
and communicating with a train of gunpowder, so that the whole 
could be discharged at once. Fieschi was arrested by the police 
in the act of making his escape, and was guillotined on the 19th 
of February, 1836. 

The general alarm caused by the late insurrectionary move- 
ments and fiagi'ant outrages against public order induced the gov- 
ernment to propose to the chambex's certain rigorous measures 
(memorable as the '^ laws of Septembe?-'') with regard to offenses 
of the pi'css and the proceedings in courts of justice. These laws 
were adopted by large majorities in both houses, and Avere re- 
garded with decided favor by the public. But it was not possi- 
ble by any legislative acts to impart permanent strength and so- 
lidity to the throne of Louis Philippe ; for not only did it labor 
under the radical defect of a revolutionary origin, but it was 
gradually weakened and sapped by the dissensions and jealous 
rivalry of the very parties to Avhom it owed its existence. This 
will be better understood by a brief review of the political con- 
fiicts and vicissitudes of parliamentary government which dis- 
tinguished the period between the Kevolution of 1830 and that 
of 1848. 

§ 5. Three great parties with widely differing views and inter- 
ests, arose in France out of the events of July, 1830: the Legiti- 
mists, or adherents of tl;c older brancli of the Bourbons, who re- 



686 LOUIS PHILIPPE. . Chap. XXXn. 

garded the Duke of Bordeaux (Henry V.) as their lawful sover- 
eign ; the Oiieanists, or friends of the existing government ; and 
the Democrats or Eepublicans. Louis Philippe, of course, selected 
his ministers from the second of these parties ; and for many years 
tliey commS,nded a large and decisive majority in both chambers 
of the Legislature. But it was not long before symptoms of mis- 
understanding and division appeared in the camp of the Orleanists 
themselves. The one section, considering that all necessary re- 
forms in the Constitution had already been secured by the Revo- 
lution of July, took a sti'ongly conservative line, and steadily op- 
posed all farther concessions to popular clamor ; the other desired 
that the liberties and power of the people should be extended to 
the very extreme limit compatible with the form of a monai'chical 
government, their fevorite maxim being thus expressed : " Le roi 
regne, et ne gouverne pas." During the earlier and more stormy 
period of Louis Philippe's reign the prime ministers were taken 
from the ranks of the Conservatives. Casimir Pe'rier, perhaps the 
ablest statesman of the party, assumed the reins of power on the 
13th of March, 1831, but unhappily he fell a victim to the rav- 
ages of the cholera, which carried him off on the 16th of May, 
1832. In the ministry which followed, under the premiership of 
Marshal Soult, M. Thiers obtained for the first time a share in the 
direction of affairs, being appointed minister of the interior. This 
celebrated politician (already mentioned in our pages as the editor 
of the National, and one of the chief promoters of the resistance to 
Charles X.) was destined to exercise a powei'ful influence on the 
fortunes of the Orleans dynasty and of Finance. It is difficult to 
explain the singular fluctuations and inconsistencies of his career 
upon any other principle than that of selfish and unscrupulous de- 
votion to the dictates of his own personal ambition. Originally 
the apostle of extreme liberal opinions, his views seem to have un- 
dergone a sudden change as soon as the dooi-s of the cabinet were 
opened to him. He was the chief author of the restrictive "laws 
of September," which might almost have figured among the meas- 
ures of the absolute monarchy. On the other hand, when again 
in opposition, M. Thiers veered round to a directly contrary sys- 
tem. He vigorously contested the prerogatives of the crown ; 
became the eloquent advocate of pai'liamentary reform ; and sup- 
ported, if he did not originate, the famous political banquets which 
resulted in the fall of Louis Philippe. It was during the admin- 
istration of Marshal Soult, of which both M. Thiers and M. Guizot 
were members, that the Avell-known rivalry commenced between 
these two distinguished men, so essentially opposed in principles 
and general character. In January, 1836, the cabinet, of which 
the Duke of Broglie was at that time the head, was defeated in 



A.D. 1836. CONSPIRACY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. 687 

the Chamber of Deputies on the question of the budget ; and on 
the 22d of February following, M. Thiers was gazetted as presi- 
dent of the council of ministers and secretary for foreign affairs. 
But the new premier soon found himself in a situation of great 
embarrassment, owing to his pertinacious anxiety to interfere in 
the affairs of Spain, at that time distracted by the outbreak of a 
sanguinary civil war. Louis Philippe was strongly opposed to the 
policy of intervention ; the minister positively refused to surren- 
der his own opinion, and the consequence was the dissolution of the 
cabinet after an existence of little more than six months. Count 
Mole now succeeded to the post of president of the council, M. Guiz- 
ot being associated Avith him as minister of public instruction. 

§ 6. Two unexpected and untoward events which occurred in 
1836 involved the government in considerable difficulties : these 
were the failure of the expedition to Constantine in Algeria, and 
the singular conspiracy headed by Prince Louis Napoleon Bona- 
parte at Strasburg. 

Marshal Clausel advanced from Bona against Constantine on 
the 13th of November, 1836, with a force of about 10,000 men. 
The town of Constantine, perched on the summit of a lofty rock, 
and protected by strong fortifications, was valiantly defended by 
the Ai'abs under Achmet Bey ; and two simultaneous assaults 
given by the French on opposite sides of the fortress were re- 
pulsed with severe loss on the night of the 23d of November. 
The assailants were at length compelled to retreat, an operation 
Avhich exposed them to fresh disasters ; and, in a word, the expe- 
dition was a total failure. This reverse excited general mortifica- 
tion and indignation in France.* 

Prince Louis Napoleon (the present Emperor of the French), 
who had resided for some time at Areneberg in Switzerland, had 
become acquainted with various French officers belonging to the 
garrison of Strasburg ; one of these. Colonel Vaudrey, command- 
ing the 4tli regiment of artillery, ottered to join the prince in an 
attempt to gain possession of the city, and afterward to march 
with all the troops they could collect upon Paris. On the morn- 
ing of the 30th of October, 1836, Louis Napoleon, in the uniform 
of an artillery officer, suddenly appeared on the great square of 
Strasburg, accompanied by the chiefs of the conspiracy, among 
whom was his intimate friend and confidant, M. Persigny. An 
exciting proclamation was read, to which the troops replied by 
shouts of "Vive I'Empereur!" But the 4Gth regiment of infan- 
try, maintained in their duty by the courage and firmness of Colo- 

* A second expedition to Constantine, nndcr General Dami'emont and the 
Duke of Nemours, in the .lutnmn of 1837, was crowned with complete suc- 
cess, and contributed greatly to consolidate the French conquest of Algeria. 



G88 LOUIS PHILIPPE. Chap. XXXII. 

nel Talanciier, refused to join the movement. Louis Napoleon 
and his companions were arrested on the spot, M. Persigny alone 
contriving to make his escape. The ex-queen Hortense, mother 
of the young prince, anxiously sought an interview Avith Louis 
Phiblppe, and implored his clemency in favor of her son ; but there 
was no intention to proceed harshly against him. He was con- 
veyed to Paris, and thence to Lorient, where, on the 15th of No- 
vember, he embarked on board the " Andromeda" frigate, and 
sailed for New York. 

§ 7. There were now four principal parties in the Chamber of 
Deputies : the cute droit, of which the most conspicuous member 
was the great barrister M. Berryer ; the cute gauche, led by M. 
Odillon-Barrot ; the centre gauche, under the direction of M. 
Thiers ; and, lastly, the centre droit, under that of M. Guizot. 
Count Mole having dissolved the Chamber of Deputies in 1838, 
a general election followed ; and although in the new chamber 
the minister still possessed a majority, it was by no means strong- 
ly constituted, and rested upon no distinct and elevated pi-inciples 
of policy. The dislocated state of parties was now dexterously 
seized by M. Thiers as an opportunity of preparing the Avay for 
his own return to power. He intrigued to bring about a recon- 
ciliation and coalition between his own party (the centre gauche) 
and that of the doctrinaires under M. Guizot, who had quitted 
office in the previous year, and in the course of the autumn of 
1838 this celebrated combination was finally arranged. The 
junction of these various elements of opposition destroyed the 
ministerial majority in the session of 1839. But difficulties im- 
mediately arose among the leaders of the new confederacy as to 
the distribution of offices in the cabinet which they were called 
upon to form. M. Thiers behaved with his usual vexatious ob- 
stinacy and arrogance ; M. Guizot, too, was peremptory and ex- 
acting ; and the interregnum was so long protracted, that a sud- 
den insurrection broke out in the capital on the 12th of May, 
headed by Barbes, Bernard, and other violent demagogues. This 
quickly put an end to the suspense. On the very day that the 
disturbance took place (May 12, 1839), the name of Marshal 
Soult Avas published as president of the council and minister of 
foreign affiiirs ; the other members of the cabinet were chosen 
from the centre droit and the centre gauche; but the three chiefs 
of the victorious coalition (Guizot, Thiers, and Odillon-Barrot) 
were all alike excluded from the administration. It soon appear- 
ed, however, that this arrangement Avas not likely to be of long 
duration. The supporters of the government were Avavering and 
lukewarm in their allegiance, the factions Avere vehemently ex- 
cited, and the Chamber Avas intractable. On the question of a 



A.D. 1839, 18^0. REBELLION OF MEHEMET ALL 689 

proposed settlement to be made on the Duke of Nemours on his 
marriage, the ministers sustained a defeat (February 20, 1840), 
and immediately afterward placed their resignations in the hands 
of the khig. The triumph of the Coalition was thus complete, 
and on the 1st of March M. Thiers obtained for the second time 
the coveted object of his ambition, the first place in the direction 
of affairs. M. Guizot accepted the post of embassador to the 
court of St. James's, where he immediately became involved in a 
series of difficult negotiations connected with the critical and 
threatening state of affairs in the East. This embarrassing point 
of external policy became fatal to the second administration of 
M. Thiers. 

§ 8. The rebellion of Meheraet Ali, the ambitious and turbulent 
viceroy of Egypt, against his nominal sovereign the Turkish sultan, 
had for some years past seriously menaced the integrity of the Ot- 
toman empire. The French government vv^as well known to enter- 
tain strong sympathy with the Egyptian viceroy ; the latter senti- 
ment having arisen in great measure from the spirit of rivalry with 
England, to which power Mehemet Ali was specially obnoxious. 
In 1839 hostilities broke out afresh in Syria. The Turkish forces 
were defeated, and the whole of Syria became subject to the Vice- 
roy of Egypt. France now demanded that the jjossession both of 
Egypt and Syria should be guaranteed to the pacha, while England 
insisted on the complete restitution of Syria to the Porte. Upon 
this point agreement seemed impossible ; and the result was that, 
without communicating their intention to France, the other four 
powers signed a ti'eaty with Turkey on the 15th of July, 1840, for 
the purpose of compelling Mehemet Ali to withdraw his forces 
from Syria, and to acquiesce in the other terms of the proposed 
accommodation. This treaty was carried into effect without de-. 
lay. A combined fleet, under the British, Austrian, and Turkish 
flags, proceeded to the Levant, bombarded and captui'ed Beyrout 
and other Syrian fortresses, and in one brief campaign cleared Syria 
of the Egyptian troops. Mehemet Ali eventually accepted a set- 
tlement which left him in independent hereditary possession of 
Egypt, while the whole of Syria was restored to the dominion of 
the sultan. 

§ 9. The Quadruple Treaty came like a thunderclap upon the 
French government. Indignant outcries Avere raised against the 
treachery and insolence of England, and for some time a rupture 
of the alliance between the two countries was considered immi- 
nent. The prospect of a European war led to one of the most 
important events of the reign of Louis Philippe, the fortification 
of Paris. The works were to comprehend a complete encientc of 
the city on both banks of the Seine, together with a line of de- 



GOO LOUIS PHILIPPE. Chap. XXXIL 

tached casemated forts ; the expense, as voted by the chambers, 
was 150,000,000 of francs, or £6,000,000 sterling. Meanwhile 
the public became more and more clamorous for war, and mur- 
murs and menaces arose on all sides against the government which 
could tamely endure the humiliation inflicted upon France by her 
recent exclusion from the councils of the Eui'opean powers. In 
the midst of this excitement, another desperate attempt was made 
upon the life of Louis Philippe by a wretch named Darmes ; his 
weapon was a rifle, which, being overcharged, burst in his hands, 
and the king fortunately escaped unhurt. This occurrence is said 
to have been fatal to the ministry of M. Thiers. He had latterly 
become so unpopular, and the state of affairs, both foreign and do- 
mestic, was so embarrassed and discouraging, that the king de- 
termined on changing his advisers; and on the 29th of October, 
1840, a new cabinet was installed in office, under the nominal 
presidency of Marshal Soult, but directed in reality by M. Guizot, 
who was named minister for foreign atfars. Vehement personal 
disputes ensued during the next legislative session between MM. 
Guizot and Thiers, whose position as antagonist party leaders had 
now reached its climax ; but the new ministry proved strong, and 
was supported by triumphant majorities in both houses. The 
peace of Europe was happily maintained intact, and the violent 
effervescence of warlike feeling subsided in France. 

By way of an act of reconciliation and amnesty between the 
governments of France and England, it was now arranged that 
the remains of the great Napoleon should be removed from the 
island of St. Helena to a final resting-place in France, according 
to the desire expi'essed by the late emperor himself in his last tes- 
tament. The Pi-ince de Joinville arrived at James Town early in 
October, 1840, in the " Belle Foule" frigate. The cei'emony of 
the exhumation took place on the 15th, in the presence of Gener- 
als Bertrand and Montholon and the Count Las Cases, who had 
witnessed the interment in 1821; and the well-remembered fea- 
tures of the hero, exposed to view after an interval of nineteen 
years, were found altogether unchanged by the hand of time and 
decay. The precious deposit was conveyed to the French frigate 
under a discharge of minute guns ; the squadron sailed immedi- 
ately, and reached Cherbourg on the 8th of December. The cof- 
fin was then transferred to a smaller vessel, which followed the 
course of the Seine to Paris. On the 15th of December the corpse 
was received at the church of the Invalides by the king in person, 
surrounded by his sons, the civil and military authorities, and a 
countless multitude of the population, all animated by one enthu- 
siastic impulse of admiration and attachment. The scene is stated 
by eye-witnesses to have been one of indescribable solemnity, and 
never to be forgotten. 



A.D. 1842-184G. THE SPANISH MARRIAGES. 691 

§ 10. Notwithstanding this event, and the hopes expressed on 
the occasion that France and England had " buried their ancient 
animosty in the tomb of Napoleon," a temporary interruption of 
the entente corcliale took place at two subsequent periods in the reign 
of Louis Philippe, in 1843 and 1846. The first of these misun- 
derstandings was connected with the occupation of the Society 
Islands by the French — a proceeding which the British govern- 
ment viewed with dissatisfaction, though it had not thought proper 
to oppose it. The arrest of Mr. Pritchard, the British consul at 
Tahiti, by the French Captain D'Aubigny, called forth from the 
British cabinet a demand of prompt and ample satisfaction. Much 
irritation and violence of feeling was displayed on both sides of 
the Channel ; but the cabinet of the Tuileries, determined to ob- 
viate every pretext for hostile measures on the part of England, 
expressed its willingness to gi-ant the required redress. This 
marked moderation disarmed the rising indignation of Great Brit- 
ain, and all apprehension of war was at once removed. But, on 
the other hand, it greatly injured the popularity and strength of 
M. Guizot's administration. 

The mari'iage of the Queen of Spain, in the year 1846, produced 
a still farther estrangement between the French and English courts. 
The British government wished Queen Isabella to marry Prince 
Leopold of Saxe-Cobui'g, and offered the strongest opposition to 
Louis Philippe's proposal of a matrimonial connection between 
the Bourbons of France and Spain. But the policy of Louis Phil- 
ippe was in the end crowned with success. On the 10th of Oc- 
tober, 1846, the Queen of Spain married Don Francisco d'Assisi, 
duke of Cadiz, the eldest son of her uncle ; and on the same day 
the Infanta Luisa was united to the Duke of Montpensier, the 
fifth and youngest son of the King of the French. This result 
was a severe mortification to the cabinet of St. James's ; and in 
one particular, at least, the British government had a valid ground 
of complaint against Louis Philippe, for M. Guizot had given a 
distinct promise to Lord Aberdeen that the nuptials of the Duke 
of Montpensier should not take place until the Queen of Spain 
had become the mother of a direct heir to the throne. The peace 
of Europe remained undisturbed ; but feelings of coldness and 
suspicion took the place of cordiality in the relations between 
France and England, which lasted till the downfall of the Orleans 
monarchy. 

§ 11. On the 13th of July, 1842, the king and the royal family 
were thrown into the deepest affliction by the sudden death of the 
Duke of Orleans, who was thrown out of his carriage, and expired 
in the course of a few hours. lie had married in May, 1837, the 
Princess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and left two sons, 



G92 LOUIS PHILIPPE. Chap. XXXIL 

Louis Philippe, comte de Paris, born in August, 1838, and Robert, 
due de Cliartres, born in November, 1840. This melancholy event 
was of considerable importance in a political point of view ; for a 
long minority and regency, which in the course of nature were 
now more than probable, would necessarily open the door to mul- 
tiplied intrigues and perplexities, and the future of the Orleans 
dynasty thus became overclouded and precarious. The Duke of 
Nemours was designated as regent of the kingdom in the event of 
the king's death. 

In Algeria, France maintained a severe and prolonged, but ul- 
timately successful struggle against the native Arab tribes, and 
particularly with the Emir Abd-el-Kader, a chieftain of indomi- 
table courage and considerable ability. In 1842 he Avas beaten 
in a sharp engagement by the Duke of Auniale, and at length fled 
for refuge, with a few followers, into the mountains of Morocco. 
He now dexterously excited the Emperor of Morocco, Muley Ab- 
<lerrahman, to acts of hostility against the French ; and Marshal 
Bugeaud assembled his forces for an expedition into the territory 
of Morocco in June, 1844. At the same time, the Prince de 
.loinville, with a naval squadron, attacked the fortified port and 
town of Mogador, which was compelled to yield, and was occupied 
by a French garrison. Marshal Bugeaud gave battle to the Moors 
on the banks of the Isly, the frontier stream between Algeria and 
Morocco, where he gained a complete victory on the 14 th of Au- 
gust, with very trifling loss. The Emperor of Morocco now sued 
for peace, and, the conditions prescribed by France having been 
accepted, the treaty was signed on the 10th of September. One 
of its articles stipulated that Abd-el-Kader should bo expelled 
from Morocco. 

These transactions were viewed with a certain amount of jeal- 
ousy and disquietude by England. It was apprehended that the 
French meditated establishing themselves permanently at Tangier 
and along the southern shore of the Straits. This would have 
threatened Gibraltar, and might have led to a contest between the 
two powers for predominance in the Mediterranean. 

In 1847 the redoubtable Abd-el-Kader was once more in arms 
on the frontier of Morocco, but was so closely tracked and sur- 
rounded by the French under General de Lamoriciere that at last 
he surrendered himself prisoner, having stipulated that he should 
be conducted either to Alexandria or to St. Jean d'Acre. This 
promise, however, was not fulfilled by the French government ; 
the emir was conveyed, with his wives, children, and suite of do- 
mestics, to Toulon, and was ultimately placed in confinement in 
the chateau of Amboise. He was not released till 1853, by a de- 
cree of Napoleon III. 



A.D. 1847. DISCONTENT AMONG THE PEOPLE. 693 

§ 12. The legislative session of 1847 opened under sombre aus- 
pices. The state of affairs, both foreign and domestic, was com- 
plicated and critical, and evidently portended a serious conflict of 
political parties. The recent breach of the English alliance, the 
Spanish marriages, and the arbitrary annexation of Cracow to 
Austria, against which France had inelFectually protested, were 
external questions certain to produce acrimonious disputes, while 
the internal situation was still more alarming. The preceding 
harvest had been bad, and had caused a considerable rise in the 
price of all the necessaries of life ; work had become scarce, and 
the rate of wages had fallen ; extensive distress and discontent 
among the agricultural and productive classes was the natural 
consequence. The popular irritation was industriously fomented 
by the pernicious agitators called Socialists, whose doctrines, greed- 
ily swallowed by the ignorant multitude, resulted ere long in de- 
plorable distui'bances in various parts of the country. Closely 
connected with this agitation among the suiFering rural population 
was the clamor, which every day became more loud and urgent, 
for reform in various departments of the state — reform electoral, 
parliamentary, and administrative. This was the theme of inces- 
sant declamation by the opposition deputies during the session of 
1847: but the prime minister, M. Guizotj confident of a strong 
and compact majority, met them invariably by a consistent and 
determined refusal. Finding the government resolute in their un- 
fortunate system of disregarding all applications for reform, the 
opposition leaders now determined to commence a general agita- 
tion throughout France, for the purpose of compelling attention 
to their demands. The plan adopted was to hold a series of ban- 
quets in Paris and the provinces, at which the views of the re- 
formers might be freely developed and discussed in the most pop- 
ular form, by means of political toasts and speeches. 

The Chambers met on the 28th of December, 1847. In his 
speech from the throne Louis Philippe expressed his conviction 
that the Constitution of 1830 offered all necessary guarantees both 
for the moral and material intei'ests of the nation. The inference 
was that no reform was needed, and that none would be permit- 
ted. The address in reply produced a severe and prolonged con- 
test. M. Guizot, however, remained immovable in his refusal of 
all concession ; the various amendments of the opposition were 
rejected by large majorities, and the address was voted in entire 
conformity to the views of the cabinet. The struggle Avas now to 
be transferred to a different scene. A proposed reform banquet, 
to be given by the electors of the 12th arrondissement of the city 
of Paris, had been prohibited by the prefect of police. At a meet- 
ing of the opposition deputies it was resolved to hold the banquet 



094 LOUIS PHILIPPE. Chap. XXXII. 

notwitlistanding ; and it was finally fixed to take place on the 22d 
of February, 1848. The banquet was interdicted a second time, 
and it Avas announced that any unlawful assemblage would be dis- 
persed by force. The reformers upon this submitted, and the ban- 
quet was abandoned. The king and his advisers, meanwhile, were 
in a state of blind secui'ity and confidence ; they considered the 
opposition as vanquished, and had no apprehension whatever of 
an approaching tumult. On the morning of the eventful 2 2d of 
February the impulsive Parisian populace began to congregate by 
thousands in the neighborhood of the Madeleine and the Eue 
Koyale, shouting " Vive la reforme ! a bas les ministres !" and 
singing the Marseillaise hymn in chorus. No troops made their 
appearance ; but collisions occurred at several points between the 
mob and the municipal guard, in which the latter Avere defeated ; 
but the day passed over without any serious hostilities, and the 
court maintained its fallacious persuasion that no dangerous re- 
sults would follow. On the next day, the 23d, the national guard 
and the troops of the garrison of Paris were called out ; it soon 
appeared that the spirit of faction and disorder was rife among 
the civic militia. Their unanimous cry, as they marched through 
the different quarters of the cit}', was "Vive la reforme !"' This 
direct encouragement emboldened the leaders of the Eevolution- 
ists; the members of the secret societies flew to arms ; and in the 
skirmishes which followed between the populace and the regular 
troops, the national guard every where interfered in favor of the 
former. Thus steadily confronted, both officers and soldiers hesi- 
tated to commit themselves to a general assault upon their fellow- 
citizens ; they allowed themselves, if not to be gained over to the 
side of the rioters, at least to be reduced to inaction ; and the in- 
surrection thus triumphed almost without engaging in actual strife. 
§ 13. Louis Philippe at length became acquainted with the 
true situation of affairs. In the afternoon of the 23d M. Guizot 
tendered his resignation, which was promptly accepted, and pub- 
lished as an act of satisfaction on the part of the king to the de- 
mands of the people. Count Mole was charged with the forma- 
tion of a new ministry. It was now generally expected that 
tranquillity would.be at once restored. But late at night the de- 
tachment of troops posted at the Hotel of Foreign Affairs was at- 
tacked by a band of desperate rioters ; the commanding officer or- 
dered them to fire, and several persons in the crowd (some accounts 
say upward of fifty) were in an instant stretched wounded or dying 
on the pavement.* This was precisely the result desired by the 
revolutionary agitators, who, it is too clearly proved, deliberately 

* M. de Beaumont- Vassy, Hist, de mon Temjis, vol. iv., p, 65; M. Elias 
Regniuilt, Hist, da IluH Ans, vol. Hi., p. 405. 



A.D. 1848. ABDICATION OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 695 

sacrificed the lives of their deluded followers for the sake of over- 
throwing the throne and securing the triumph of anarchy.* The 
dead bodies were hastily placed on a tumbril {which had been brought 
to the spot jirevioushj), and paraded in hideous procession through 
the metropolis. This spectacle raised the indignation of the mul- 
titude to the highest pitch ; cries of vengeance resounded on all 
sides ; fresh barricades were erected in all the most populous 
quarters of the city, and the soldiers, stupefied and panic-struck, 
renounced all farther opposition to the revolt. The king now 
named Marshal Bugeaud to the supreme command of the whole 
military force at Paris, and, M. Mole having declined the task of 
constructing a ministry, summoned M. Thiers to the head of af- 
fairs. This statesman, in conjunction with M. Odillon-Barrot, 
immediately issued a pi'oclamation announcing their appointment 
as ministers, and stating that orders had been given to the troops 
to withdraw and abandon the contest. This inconsiderate step 
gave the last blow to the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Marshal 
Bugeaud resigned his command ; the soldiers quitted their ranks, 
and gave up their arms and ammunition to the insurgents ; the 
national guards united themselves with the masses of the people, 
and mai-ched with them in one tumultuary throng upon the Tuil- 
eries. The catastrophe was now inevitable ; the king, feeling that 
all was lost, signed an act of abdication in favor of his grandson 
the Comte de Paris, and withdrew to St. Cloud. 

§ 14. An attempt Avas made to obtain the recognition of the 
Duchess of Orleans as regent, and thus to preserve the throne to 
the heir of Louis Philippe, according to the terms of his abdica- 
tion. The duchess proceeded to the Chamber of Deputies, hold- 
ing by the hand her sons the Comte de Paris and the Due de 
Chartres, and took her seat in front of the tribune. More than 
one member spoke earnestly in favor of the regency ; but in the 
midst of the debate the Chamber was invaded by a tumultuous 
thi'ong of armed men, and M. Marie, a violent Republican, taking 
possession of the tribune, announced that the first duty of the 
Legislature was to appoint a strong provisional govei'nment capa- 
ble of re-establishing public confidence and order. MM. Cremieux 
Ledru-Rollin, and Lamartine followed, declaring the proposed re- 
gency illegal (since the law had conferred it on the Duke of Ne- 
mours), and insisting on a new govei-nment and constitution to be 
sanctioned by the sovereign people. The proposition was hailed 
with vehement acclamations ; fresh columns of the insurgent mul- 
titude pressed into the hall, and a sanguinary termination of the 
scene seemed imminent. The Duchess of Orleans and her children 
then retired precipitately, and the Republicans remained undis- 

* A. Granier de Cnssagnac, Chute de Louis Philippe, vol. i., p. 216. 



696 LOUIS PHILIPPE. Chap. XXXII. 

puted masters of tlie field. They proceeded forthwith to nomi- 
nate a provisional government, consisting of MM. Lamartine, Du- 
pont de I'Eure, Arago, Ledru-Kollin, Garnier-Pages, Cremieux, 
and Marie ; to these were afterward added MM. Louis Blanc, A. 
Marrast, Flocon, and Albert, as secretaries to the government. 
On the same evening Lamartine proclaimed from the balcony of 
the Hotel de Ville the establishment of a republic. The old rev- 
olutionary watchwords of Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite were 
once more adopted ; and it was announced that an immediate ap- 
peal would be made to the whole French nation to ratify the act 
of the provisional government. 

Such were the extraordinary events of the 24th of February, 
1848. On reviewing its incidents, the conduct of the government, 
at a crisis known to be so fraught with peril, appears inexplicable 
and almost incredible. A more singular specimen of weakness, 
incapacity, and infatuation has seldom been exhibited in the his- 
tory of nations. The king himself, the princes his sons, M. 
(iuizot, M. Thiers, M. Odillon-Barrot, seem to have been all alike 
bereft of that cool presence of mind, sagacious foresight, and reso- 
lute energy which were absolutely necessary to the safety of the 
constitution and the throne. Never did a strong and popularly- 
organized government succumb with less dignity, or from causes 
apparently more insufficient. There M^as no powerful party in 
France, before the outbreak of the 22d of February, which seri- 
ously desired the overthrow of the existing system ; still less was 
the nation in general prepared to try the desperate experiment of 
a second republic. The Eevolution of 1848 Avas simply and lit- 
erally the result of a mischievous and contemptible tiic/c — a trick 
which a verj^ moderate amount of firmness, spirit, and persever- 
ance on the part of the authorities might have successfully ex- 
posed and frustrated. 

The escape of the royal family from France was not accom- 
plished without considerable difficulty and many curious adven- 
tures. To avoid suspicion, the party separated ; the Duke of 
Montpensier, with the Duchess of Nemours and her children, 
traveled in the direction of Avranches, Avhile Louis Philippe and 
the queen, with a few attendants, took the road to Honfleur. At 
several towns through which they passed, particularly at Evrenx, 
the popular effervescence was extreme, and the fugitives w'ere in 
some danger. They reached Honfleur on the 26th of February ; 
but the weather was tempestuous, and various attempts -were 
made, without success, to pi-ocure a vessel in Avhich to cross the 
Channel. For nearly a week the king and queen lay concealed 
at a small country house near Honfleur, in a state of painful per- 
plexity and alarm ; at lengtli tlie packet steamer " Express" vras 



A.D. 1848. ESCAPE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 697 

placed Jit their disposal by the British government, and, Louis 
Philippe, having assumed the convenient sobriquet of William 
Smith, they embarked at Havre on the night of the 3d of March. 
Next day they landed safely at Newhaven in Sussex, and imme- 
diately proceeded to Claremont, a seat belonging to their son-in- 
law the King of the 15elgians.. Here, after spending upward of 
two years in entire privacy, Louis Philippe terminated his check- 
ered and almost romantic career on the 26th of August, 1850, at 
the age of 77. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE SECOND KEPUBLIC AND SECOND EMPIKE. A.D. 1848-1852. 

§ 1. Difficulties of the Provisional Government; the Ateliers Nationauxj 
Excesses of the Socialist Clubs ; sanguinary Struggle of June, 1848; Gen- 
eral Cavaignac Dictator. § 2. Republican Constitution; Prince Louis 
Napoleon elected President. § 3. Revolutionary Movements throughout 
Europe ; War between Austria and Piedmont ; Appeal of Pope Pius IX. 
to the Catholic Nations ; French Expedition to Rome ; Reinstatement of 
the Pope. § 4. Opposition of the Assembly to the President ; Law re- 
sti'icting Universal SuiFrage ; Debates on the Revision of the Constitution. 
§ 5. The Coup d'etat of December, 1851 ; Dissolution of the Assembly; 
Commotions in Paris ; Changes in the Constitution. § 6. Establishment 
of the Second Empire ; Conclusion. 

§ 1 . The political vicissitudes of France subsequent to the fall 
of Louis Philippe are so recent and so familiarly "known, that a 
very cursory notice of them will suffice for the purpose of the 
present volume. The provisional government found itself beset 
by immense and insurmountable embarrassments. Dissensions 
quickly arose; the moderate members — Lamartine, Dupont de 
I'Eure, Garnier-Pages, and Marrast — were opposed by the party 
of Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc, who held extravagant Socialist* 
or Communist opinions. The first ground of conflict between 
these two sections was the vitall}' important question of the sup- 
port of the industrial and laboring classes. The Socialists insist- 
ed that it is the duty of a republic to provide employment for 
every citizen requiring it; this doctrine was embodied in a decree 
of the 27th of February (carried in spite of the earnest remon- 
strances of M. Lamartine), announcing the Organisation du Tra- 
vail, and the institution oi Ateliers nationaux, or national work- 
shops, in which all applicants were to gain a fair remuneration 
for their labor at the expense of the state. Louis Blanc was 
placed at the head of the commission for this purpose. The rate 
of payment offered to the workmen was at first five francs a day ; 
this was reduced by degi*ees to two francs, one franc and a half, 
and at last to eight francs per week. By the beginning of March 
no less than 40,000 individuals were maintained in the ateliers 
nationaux.* 

The general elections to the Constituent Assembly commenced 
on the 27th of April, and were to a great extent hostile to the 
extreme revolutionary party. The Assembly met on the 5th of 

* The expense of maintaining these workshops amounted, between the 9th 
of March and the 15th of June, 1848, to 14,174,967 fr., or nearly £567,000! 
— Official liejiort l»j il/. Einile Thomas. 



A.D. 1848. SANGUINARY STRUGGLE OF JUNE 1848. 699 

May, and consisted of nine hundred representatives elected by 
universal suffrage. Its first act was to appoint a supreme execu- 
tive commission, which was composed of MM. Lamartine, Arago, 
Garnier-Pages, Marie, and Ledru-Rollin, and was thus pretty 
evenly balanced between the two antagonist parties. In the month 
of June an indignant outcry arose against the absurd ateliers na- 
tionaux. It was evident to all reasonable persons that the enter- 
prise was a gigantic and ruinous mistake ; but it was also evident 
that the error could not be repaired except at the expense of a 
renewed and calamitous civil strife. A decree of the Assembly, 
on the 22d of June, ordered a certain number of the workmen to 
enroll themselves in the army ; in case of refusal, they were no 
longer to be received in the national workshops. The conse- 
quence was a terrible and sanguinary insurrection of the opera- 
tives on the 22d and several following days. The command of 
the army and the national guard was placed in the hands of Gen- 
eral Cavaignac, who was vigorously supported by Generals La- 
moriciere and Bedeau. On the 24th Paris was declared in a state 
of siege ; General Cavaignac was nominated Dictator with unlim- 
ited powers ; and the executive committee resigned their offices. 
No less than eleven generals were killed and wounded ; and on the 
27th the venerable Archbishop of Paris, Monsgr. Affre, lost his 
life by a random shot from the barricade on the Place de la Bas- 
tile, while endeavoring to interpose his mediation to put an end 
to this frightful carnage. Still the anarchists fought on with des- 
perate courage ; and it was not till the 28th, when the last bar- 
ricade of the faubourg St. Antoine had been stormed and destroy- 
ed by the troops, that they at length surrendered unconditionally, 
and the triumph of the friends of order was complete. Cavaignac 
then divested himself of the dictatorship, and was appointed pres- 
ident of the council, with the right of naming his ministers. On 
the 4th of July he issued a decree, in very concise and peremptory 
terms, suppressing altogether the national workshops. It Avas 
submitted to in silence. The apostles of Socialism, after inun- 
dating Paris with the blood of thousands of her citizens, were for 
the moment thoroughly cowed and prostrated. 

§ 2. The Assembly now proceeded seriously with its legislative 
labors. In spite of the melancholy experience of the close of the 
last century, a republican form of government Avas proclaimed on 
the 12th of November. The executive authority was to be exer- 
cised by a chief magistrate, bearing the title of President of the 
Republic ; he was elected for four years, and was re-eligible only 
after the expiration of a farther period of four years. There Avas 
to be a Council of State, named by the Assembly for six years; 
a vice-president of the republic Avas placed at its head, appointed 



700 THE SECOND REPUBLIC. Chap. XXXIII. 

by the Assembly from a list of three candidates presented by the 
president. The legislative power was to reside in a single cham- 
ber numbering 750 members. 

In the course of the summer Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 
who was at this time residing in England,* was elected by five 
different departments a representative to the National Assembly. 
He immediately crossed the Channel, and, having made his option 
to sit for the department of the Seine, took his place in the legis- 
lative chamber on the 26th of September. He had already been 
returned for Paris at an election in the previous month of June ; 
but the government having protested against his nomination, and 
even presented a decree for his banishment from France, he had 
forborne to claim his seat. His illustrious name was now eager- 
ly adopted as the symbol of a party. On the 1 st of December he 
published an address, announcing himself as a candidate for the 
office of president, the election having been fixed to take place; 
by universal suffrage, on the lOth of that month. There were 
four other candidates : General Cavaignac, who was supported 
by the majority of the Assembly and most of the great provincial 
towns ; M. Ledru-Kollin, M. Laraartine, and the ultra-Democrat 
Raspail. Out of about 7,326,000 citizens who took part in the 
election, five millions and a half gave their suffrages for Louis 
Napoleon ; while the votes of Cavaignac, Avho came next on the 
poll, fell short of one million and a half. On the 20th of Decem- 
ber the new President was formally proclaimed, and took the-oath 
prescribed by the Constitution. He immediately entered on his 
official residence in the palace of the Elyse'e. 

§ 3. The echo of the French Revolution of 1848 made itself 
heard, as usual, throughout Continental Europe. The revolt of 
the Hungarians, headed by Louis Kossuth, became extremely for- 
midable ; several sanguinary engagements were fought, in which 
the insurgents had the advantage ; th@ emperor fled from Vienna 
to Innsbruck, and terror and anarchy reigned throughout the em- 
pire. Meanwhile Lombardy threw off the Austrian yoke, and 
Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, declared war against the em- 
peror, and marched upon Milan Avith 30,000 men. In the earlier 
engagements, at Goito, and other points near Mantua, the Sardin- 
ians remained masters of the field, but they were unable to main- 
tain their advantage; In July Milan was reoccupied by the Im- 
perialists, and shortly afterward the emperor returned in triumph 

* The prince had returned from his banishment in the United States in 
July, 1837. After the death of liis mother he took up his abode in England. 
In August, 1840, having engaged in a second attempt to overturn the gov- 
ernment of Louis Philippe, he was arrested at Boulogne, and imprisoned at 
the chateau of Ham. In May, 1840, he contrived to make his escape in the 
disguise of a workman, and again sought refuge in England. 



A. D. 1848-1849. EXPEDITION TO KOME. 701 

to Vienna. The decisive battle of Novara, gained by Marshal 
lladetsky over the Piedmontese on the 23d of March, 1849, re- 
established the Austrian dominion in Italy. An armistice imme- 
diately ensued, and a treaty of peace was soon arranged by which 
Piedmont renounced all pretensions to Lombardy, Parma, and 
Modena, and engaged to pay a heavy indemnity for the expenses 
of the war. Charles Albert now abdicated his crown in favor of 
his son Victor Emanuel, duke of Savoy, the present King of Itat.y. 

Intense agitation was likewise excited at Kome, where the reign- 
ing pontiff, Pius IX., had for some years shown himself disposed 
to grant considerable reforms, and had appointed a liberal and 
constitutional government. A violent tumult was raised by the 
Democrats in November, 1848, and the prime minister. Count 
Rossi, was brutally assassinated on his way to the opening of the 
legislative chamber. The palace of the Quirinal was next be- 
sieged by the armed populace, and fresh concessions were forcibly 
extorted from the Pope. Finding that he was no longer an inde- 
pendent sovereign, Pius quitted Kome secretly and in disguise on 
the 24th of November, and took refuge at Gaeta, in the Neapoli- 
tan territory. A revolutionary government was forthwith estab- 
lisHed at Rome, which decreed the deposition of the Pope, and 
proclaimed a republic. Events of the same kind took place at 
Florence in February, 1849; the grand-duke fled from his capi- 
tal, and embai'ked for Gaeta ; and a provisional executive was 
immediately installed. 

Pius IX. now made an appeal to the Catholic nations of Eu- 
rope, and particularly to France, to interpose for the forcible res- 
toration of his authority. It appears that Louis Napoleon had 
already determined on undertaking an expedition for this pur- 
pose ; and on the 2oth of April the French expeditionary force, 
consisting of three divisions of infantry and a brigade of cavalry, 
under the orders of General Oudinot, disembarked at Civita Vec- 
chia. On the 30th their advanced guard sustained a serious check 
from the Republican troops, led by the famous Garibaldi, under 
the walls of Rome; a battalion which had rashly penetrated into 
the city was nearly cut to pieces, and more than 200 men were 
taken prisoners. The French general now found it necessary to 
commence a regular siege ; its operations were -continued till the 
3d of July, when the garrison consented to capitulate ; the terms 
demanded, however, were refused, and on the following day the 
city surrendered unconditionally to the conquerors. Garibaldi 
and most of his followers escaped from Rome ; the triumvir Maz- 
zini fled to England. The re-establishment of the pontifical gov- 
ernment was proclaimed without delay ; but the holy father did 
not return in person to Rome till the month of April, 1850. 



, 02 THE SECOND REPUBLIC. Chap. XXXIII. 

Meanwhile the city and the whole papal territory remained in the 
military occupation of the French troops. 

§ 4. Louis Napoleon had neither the wish nor the power to re- 
main in his present position. The growing necessities of his sit- 
uation, and the reckless passions and animosities of contending 
factions, caused him to advance in the direction of absolute and 
arbitrary power. In order to render himself less subject to the 
dictation of the legislative body, the president changed his minis-^ 
istry on the 31st of October, 1849, and nominated as successors 
men willing to act under his own direct and independent author- 
ity. The new administration was active and energetic ; but the 
Assembly showed immediate symptoms of suspicion and resent- 
ment, and ere long a declared schism was apparent between the 
executive and the legislative power. A number of Socialists and 
Red Republicans had been returned as representatives for Paris at 
the last election ; among them was the novelist Eugene Sue. The 
Assembly now began to be alarmed at the results of universal suf- 
frage, and changes were proposed in consequence in the electoral 
law. The suffrage was restricted to citizens domiciled for three 
years together in the same commune ; this alteration was carried, 
after a protracted and violent discussion, on the 31st of May, 1850. 
Tlie j^rince-president was known to be adverse to this measure, 
and on othei- occasions the hooaaty which prevailed against him 
in the Chamber became more and more manifest. In January, 
1851, a decree of the president deprived General Changarnier of 
his command of the garrison of Paris. This increased the irrita- 
tion of the Assembly, and the state of affairs began to look so om- 
inous, that both in Paris and the provinces an agitation commenced 
for a revision of the Constitution of 184M. This project was warmly 
debated in the Chamber for several days, from the 14th to the 
19th of July, 1851. The real question in dispute was whether 
the 45th article, which declared the president incapable of re-elec- 
tion till a period of four years had expired, should be retained or 
expugned. All parties, however, concui'red in avoiding any direct 
mention of it ; and the ultimate result was adverse to the proposed 
revision, since, although a large majority voted in its favor, their 
number did not reach the proportion prescribed by law. 

This precipitated the course of events. Louis Napoleon now 
avowed his dissatisfaction with the law of the 3 1st of May, and 
proposed tho re-establishment of universal suffi-age. The antago- 
nism between the president and the Assembly was thus brought 
to a crisis. In November a debate took place in the Assembly, 
in which it was expressly maintained that the president might 
and ought to be impeached in case he made any attempt against 
the safety of the state, and especially if he should endeavor to abro' 



A.D, 1851. COUP D'ETAT OF 1851. 703 

gate the 45?A article of the Constitution. This was language suffi- 
ciently threatening, and the prince-president was not a man to be 
threatened with impunity. He instantly concerted measui'es, like 
another Cromwell, for silencing the factious legislators whose au- 
thority had become incompatible with his own ; nor can there be 
any doubt that, in taking these steps, he distinctly contemplated 
the subsequent changes which were to raise him ere long to the 
dictatorship of France. 

§ 5. The celebrated '■^ coup d'etat" — planned Avith cool audacity, 
and executed with fearless courage — took place on the 2d of De- 
cember, 1851. All the necessary measures of precaution had been 
carefully arranged beforehand by the president and his three con- 
fidential agents, Count Morny, General St. Arnaud, and the pre- 
fect of police, M. de Maupas. The government printing-office was 
surrounded during the night of the 1st by a detachment of gen- 
dai-merie, and various decrees and proclamations were secretly and 
rapidly put in type for publication on the morrow. At an early 
hour of the 2d the prefect of police gave directions to his sub- 
ordinate officers for the immediate arrest of sixteen prominent 
members of the representative Chamber, among whom were Gener- 
als Cavaignac, Changarnier, Lainoriciere, and Bedeau ; M. Thiers, 
M. Roger du Nord, and M. Baze. This important and dangerous 
service was executed without resistance, and with perfect success ; 
by seveti o'clock in the morning the sixteen deputies, together Avitli 
sixty other individuals, active members of the Socialist clubs, were 
all safely lodged in the prison of Mazas. The hall of the Assem- 
bly was then invested by a strong military force under Colonel 
Espinasse ; and the Champs Elyse'es, the Place de la Concorde, 
the gai'den. of the Tuileries, the Carrousel, and the Quai d'Orsay, 
were at the same time occupied by troops. Proclamations ap- 
peared simultaneously on all the walls of Paris, to the amazement 
of the population, containing the following announcements: 1. 
The National Assembly is dissolved. 2. The law of the 31st of 
May is abolished, and universal suffrage restored. 3. The French 
people are convoked for the purpose of a general election on the 
14th of December. 4. Paris and the department of the Seine are 
placed in a state of siege. 5. The Council of State is dissolved. 
Another decree published the list of a new ministry, in which 
Count Morny figured as minister of the interior ; General St. Ai-- 
naud, of war ; M. Fould, of finance ; and M. Rouher, of justice. 
In a third proclamation, addressed to the French people, Louis 
Napoleon sketched the principles of a new constitution, which was 
to be immediately submitted to the national vote. A responsible 
chief magistrate named for ten years ; ministers accountable to the 
executive power alone; a Council of State to originate and pre- 



704 THE SECOND KEPUJiLIC. CiiAi-. XXXIII. 

pai'e the laws ; a legislative body to discuss and vote them ; and, 
lastly, a Senate to guard and preserve the integrity of the Consti- 
tution : such were its most essential features. It was framed 
closely on the model of that dictated by the first Napoleon on the 
18th of Brumaire, and was manifestly calculated to lead to similar 
results. 

On the 3d and 4th of December there were partial insurrec- 
tions of the Parisian populace in the accustomed localities where 
the secret societies were dominant, and at one time the struggle 
seemed likely to become serious. But the troops were ably dis- 
tributed and well commanded ; and, though not without consid- 
erable bloodshed, all opposition was suppressed by the evening of 
the 4th. 

The new Constitution, by which the power of Louis Napoleon 
as president was prolonged for a terra of ten years, was accepted 
on the 20th of December by the enormous amount oi seven millions 
and a half of affirmative votes. Thus was brought to an end the 
experiment of ^)a?7{ay«ettto?7/ government in France. It had lasted 
rather more than thirty-five years ; and on reviewing the stormy 
vicissitudes, the restless intrigues, the revolutionary excesses, the 
bloody civil conflicts of that period, we can hardly be surprised 
that the great majority of the French people viewed its suppres- 
sion with indifference, if not approval. 

§ 6. As the " Constitution of the year VIII." proved the pre- 
lude to the empire of the_^rs^ Napoleon in 1804, so the re'gime 
proclaimed in December, 1851, produced naturally and inevitably 
the restoration of the empire in the person of Napoleon III. At 
the close of a lengthened progress through the southern provinces 
during the autumn of 1852, and particularly on the occasion of a 
grand banquet at Bordeaux* on the 9th of October, it became evi- 
dent that the president was about to take the final step in his as- 
cent to sovereign power. On the;^21st of November the electors 
were once more convoked in their com/ccs, where a 2jlebisciie was 
presented to them declaring Louis Napoleon Bonaparte hereditary 
Emperor of the French, with the right of regulating the order 
of succession to the throne in his family. It was accepted by 
7,824,189 suffi'ages ; the negative votes numbering no more than 
253,145. 

On the 2d of December, 1852, the newly-elected emperor made 
his solemn entry into Paris. 

Napoleon III. was born on the 20th of April, 1808. He mar- 
ried, on the 29th of January, 1853, Eugenie Marie de Guzman, 
Coratesse de Teba, a lady descended froni one of the most illustri- 

* It was at this entertainment that Louis Napoleon pronounced his cele- 
brated dictum, "L'Enipire, c'est la paix." 



CiiAi". XXXIII. CONCLUSION. 705 

4 

ous families of Spain. They have a son, Napoleon Eugene Louis, 
I'rince Imperial, born on the 16th of March, 1856, 

Here we conclude our narrative. The period which has elapsed 
since the inauguration of the Second Empire is too close to us to 
be impartially judged or fully comprehended. Viewed superfi- 
cially, the present aspect of affairs in France is that of universal 
tranquillity, and even of general contentment; but it were idle to 
ignore the continued existence of those rancorous political divi- 
sions and dynastic rivalries which have so often involved the na- 
tion in deadly civil strife. Imperialisfti is undoubtedly, for the 
time being, the pi'edominant creed, and nothing but the blindest 
prejudice can deny or disparage the many signal benefits already 
secured to France under its auspices. But the various dissentient 
sects — the Orleanist, the Legitimist, the Republican, the Socialist 
— are still resolute in their hostility, and too powerful to be de- 
spised. Too much trust, therefore, must not be placed in the 
smiling surface of a widely-diffused material prosperity. 

A really strong administrative organization was absolutely es- 
sential, in order to repress and subdue the appalling Socialist 
agitation which arose out of the Revolution of 1848. This ad- 
ministrative strength is the leading feature of the present imperial 
government, and it is this, pre-eminently, that renders it accepta- 
ble and popular among the great mass of the nation. This recon- 
ciles men, especially of the mercantile and moneyed classes, to the 
loss or diminution of popular rights and liberties. Frenchmen 
have learned that, in the present condition of their country, much 
must be sacrificed in the way of political immunity and privilege 
for the sake of preserving the necessary foundations upon which 
the structure of society rests. Hence they are willing to forego, 
to a great extent, the freedom of election, local self-government, 
ministerial responsibility, the liberty of the press and of legislative 
debate, in order to enjoy the far greater boons of public order, 
security of property, extension of industry and commerce, internal 
improvement, and national progress. It may be added that, par- 
ticularly after the memorable lessons of the second Republic, the 
existing form of Constitution is probably the best adapted to the 
habits, tastes, and idiosyncrasy of the French people. The French 
expect and require to be governed; it is the legitimate boast and 
pride of Englishmen that they govern themselves. 

GrG2 



706 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Chap. XXXIIL 



NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 



AUTHORITIES FOR THE PERIOD OF 
THE REVOLUTION. 
The following is a selected list from the 
multitudinous publications relating to the 
history of the great Revolution. It includes 
all the most authentic and important sources 
of information on the subject. Those works 
which are specially recommended for refer- 
ence to the Englisli student are marked 
thus (*) : 

I. Complete Histories. — *Toulongeon, 
Histoire de France depuis la Revolution de 
1TS9; *Dulaure, Bsquisses Historiques des 
principaux Jivencvuns de la Jievol. Franr. ; 
*Lacretelle, Piecis Historique de la Revolu- 
tion, and La Convention Rationale; Histoire 
de la Revohition^ par deux Amis de la Liberto ; 
*Baraute, Histoire de la Convention Nation- 
ale, and Uixtoire du Directoire ; A. Thiers, 
Histoire de la RevoL, 10 vols. 8vo, 13th edit. 
This work enjoys the highest reputation and 
popularity in France ; but the author is pow- 
ertully biased by political prepossessions and 
national partiality; liis statements of facts are 
very frequently incorrect, and altogether the 
book must be read with extreme caution. 
*Michelet, Revol. Frawjaise^ T vols. ; *Mignet, 
Histoire de la Revol. Fran^mse (an excellent 
and trustworthy work) ; A Histori/.! by Louis 
Blanc, is now in course of publication. Eleven 
vols, have already appeared. 

II. Works on separate Periods A. de 

Lamartine, Histoire des Girondins ; A. Gra- 
nier de Cassagnac, Hist, de.f Girondins et des 
Massacres de Septembre ; *A. de Tocqueville, 
L'ancien Regime et la Revol. ; Edmond et 
Jules de Goncourt, Histoire de la Societe 
Fransaise pendant la Revol. et le Directoire; 
Labaume, Hist. Monarchique et Constitu- 
tionelle de la Revol. Fran., only 5 vols, pub- 
lished ; *Victor Cousin, Essai siir les Prin- 
cipes de la Revol. Fran. ; *A. C. Thibaudeau, 
Menioires sur la Convention et le Directoire. 

III. Contemporary Memoirs, — Memoirs of 
— the Daron de Grimm; Lafayette; Weher; 
Bertrand de Moleville; Marquis de Fer- 
rieres* ; Ge^ieral Dumouriez* ; Madame Ro- 
land ; Madame de Canvpan* ; Marquise de la 
Rocheiaquilin ; Marquis de Bouille. 'Ma- 
dame de Stael's Considerations sur la Revol. 
Fran, should also by all means be read, as 
well as the ^Souvenirs stir Miraheau et sur 
les Deux Premieres Assemblies Legislatives 
by Etienne Dumont — a work of extreme in- 
terest. 

Among the various English works upon 
this period the following may be specified; 
Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in 
France ; the Diary of Governor Morris ; Lec- 
tures on the French Revolution.! by the late 



Professor Smyth, of Cambridge; The French 
Revolution, a History, by Tliomas Carlyle ; 
and a volume of Essays on the French Revo- 
lution, reprinted from the Quarterly Revieiv, 
by the late Right Hon. J. Wilson Croker. 

AUTHORITIES FOR THE REIGN OF 

NAPOLi:ON I. 
As a work of reference, the Histoire de 
France soils Napoleon (1799-1815), by M. 
Bignon, may be recommended. It is in 14 
vols. Svo. *Le Consulat et C Empire, by A. 
G. Thibaudeau, is well written, and, upon the 
whole, impartial ; A. Thiers, Histoire du Con- 
sulat et ae V Empire; *Ch. Lacretelle, His- 
toire du Consulat et de V Empire, 6 vols. Svo; 
Genoude, Le Consulat et V Empire; *Jomini, 
Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoleon, 4 vols. 
Svo; Labaunie, Hist, de la Chute de V Em- 
pire de Napoleon; *Gourgaud et Montholon, 
Memoires poiir servir d V Histoire de France 
sous Napoleon, 9 vols. Svo; Soult, Marshal, 
Duke of Dalmatia, Campagnes des Generaxix 
Frani'ais depuis la Revolution jusqu''d no-s 
jours; Memoirs of — Savary (Duke of Rovi- 
go), de Bourrienne, Fonche, Marshal Gouvion 
St. Cyr, and Marshal Mamiont; *Le Memo- 
rial de Ste. Helene, by the Count las Cases ; 
Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon. (This 
popular work is by no means free from seri- 
ous inaccuracies.) *Colonel Napier's History 
of the Peninsular liar; Mr. Southey's War 
in the Pcniiisula; Marquis of Londonderry's 
Story of the Peninsular War. (These are all 
standa]'d works.) *The Miliitiry Dispatches 
of the Duke of Wellington. 

AUTHORITIES FROM THE RESTORA- 
TION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
The following are some of the principal 
works of recognized credit for this period : 
*A. de Lamartine, Histoire de la Restaura- 
tion; *De Vaulabelle, Les Deux Restaura- 
tions; Viel-Castel, Hist, de la Restauralion; 
Menechet, Seize Ans sous les Bourbo7is; 
Lacretelle, Memoires de la Rcstauration ; V. 
de Nouvion, Histoire du Regne de Louis Phi- 
lippe, Roi des Fram'ais ; Boudin, Histoire de 
Louis Philippe; *Louis Blanc, Histoire de 
Dix Ans (1S30-1S40); *Eli.as Regnault, //is- 
toire de Huit Ans (1S40-1S4S); Beaumont- 
Vassy, Histoire de mon Temps; Duvergier 
de Hauranne, Histoire du Gouvernement Par- 
lementaire en France (1814-1848) ; Comte de 
Haussonville, Histoire de la Politique Exie- 
rieure de France (1830-1848); *Comte de 
Carne, Histoire du Gouvernement Represen- 
tatif en France de 17S9 a 1848; *Garnier- 
Pagcs, Histoire de la Revolution de 1848 — (in 
course of publication) ; *Guizot, Histoire de 
mon Temps — (4 vols, published). 



A. 

Abbaye, massacres at the, 554. 

Abd-el-Kader, 092. 

Abdenaliiuan, leader of Sara- 
cens, 53, 5i 

Abelard, Peter, 127. 

Abercromby, Sir lialph, 599. 

Aberdeen, Loi'd, 691 

Aboukir, battle of, 5S!). 

Absinthe, Vallee d', 12S. 

Acre, St. Jean, siege of, by the 
Crusaders, 14?>. Fall of, 174. 
Besieged by Bonaparte, 5SJ. 

Achmet Bey, 6S7. 

Adalberon, Bishop, 104. 

Adalghis, son of Didier, 64. 

Adalhard, abbot of Corbey, 70. 

Adela, wife of Baldwin V., 
count of Flanders, 113. 

Adelaide of Aquitaine, 106. 

Adelbert, count of Perigord, 
105. 

Adhemar, Bishop. 119. 

Adrian I., Pope, 04. 

.£dui, their quarrels witli the 
Sequani, 6. 

^gidius, 29. ' 

^.lianus, 22. 

Aetius, General, 27, 2S. 

Affre, archbishop of Paris, shot, 
699. 

Agatha (Agde), 4. 

Aghrini, battle of, 440. 

Agincourt, battle of, 239. 

Agnadel, battle of, 289. 

Agnes de Meran, third wife of 
Philip Augustus, 14S. 

Agnes of Vermandois, wife of 
Charles of Lorraine, 104. 

Aguesseau, D', Chancellor, 4S9. 

Aides^ ex.cUe duties, 525. 

Aiguillon, Duke of, hU oppo- 
sition to Choiseul, 507, 50S. 
Made secretary of state for 
foreign affairs, 50S, 509. Dis- 
missed, 513. 

Aix,5. 

Aix - la - Chapelle, capital of 
Charlemagne's empire, 74, 
75. Diet at, 76. Treaties 
of, 431, 494. Congress of, 004. 

Alan, count of Vannes, 04. 

Alan, duke of Brittany, 112. 

Alani, 24. 

Alaric II., King, 33. Slain by 
Clovis, ib. 

Alauda, legion of the, 11. 

Albemaile, Lord, 400 

Alberoni, Cardinal, 470,477. 

Albert, Archduke, governor of 
tlie .Netherlands, 373. 

Albert, Secretary, 090. 



INDEX. 



|Albigense3, sect of, 151, 152. 
Crusade against, 152, 153. 

Albret, Constable D', com- 
mands an army against Hen- 
ry V. of England, 233, 239. 

Albret, Henry D', of Navarre, 
300. 303. 

Albuera, battle of, 032. 

Alby, 151. 

Alcuiu, 73, 74. 

Alemanni, 31. 

Alenibert, D', 505, 510. 

Alencon, Duke of, youngest 
brother of Charles IX., 344, 
347, 348. 

Alesia, city of, 3; siege of, 10. 

Ale.\:ander HI., Pope, 129. 

Alexander VI., Pope, 276. 

Alexander, emperor of Kussia, 
concludes a treaty with Na- 
poleon, 017. 018, 622, 030. 
Determines to take up arms 
against Napoleon, 033. En- 
ters into an alliance with 
Prussia against Napoleon 
after the retreat from Mos- 
cow, 038, 641. His entry 
into Paris, 646. 

Alexandre, accomplice of Dan- 
ton, 550. 

Algeria, war in, 092. 

Algiers, expedition against, 
6T;), 074. 

Alice, third wife of Louis VII., 
141. 

Alliance, Grand, 444. The sec- 
ond, 457. Quadruple, 476. 
Holy, between Kussia, Aus- 
tria, and Prussia, OOS. 

Allies invade France during 
the Kevolution, 553. Attack 
Dumoiiriez at Grandpre, 
550. Their retreat, 557. De- 
feated by tlie armies of the 
Kepublic, 570. Defeated at 
Lutzcn and Bautzen, OSS 
Enter Paris, 040. Proclaim 
Louis XVIir., 048. Organ 
izc three armies upon the 
news of Napoleon's escape 
from Elba, 054. Again take 
jiossession of Paris, 002. 
Their treatment of the city, 
C02. 

Allodial lands, 129, 130. 

Almanza. battle of, 403. 

Almeida taken by the French, 
031. Besieged by English, 
032. 

Alphonso, count of Poiliers. 
son of JjonU VIII., nuirrics 
Jeanne, daughter of l!uyr 
mond of Toulouse, 104. 



ANIANK. 

\lsace, 203. Ceded to France 
at the close of the Thirty 
Years' War, 414. Turenne'.s 
campaign in, 435. Dispute 
between Germany and the 
Ijegislative Assembly about 
fief of, 545. 

Alva, Duke of, 323, 324. His 
conferences with Catharine 
de Medicis, 337. 1 lis perse- 
cution of the Protestants of 
the Netherlands, ib. 

Alvinzi, Marshal, 683. 

Amandus, 22. 

.■\maury, abbot of Ci.caur, 
marches against Albigenses, 
152. 

Amaury, son of Simon de 
Montfort, 157. 

\mbiorix, chief of the Ebu- 
rones, S. 

Amboise, George D', cardinal 
archbishop of Rouen, minis- 
ter of Louis XIL, 283. 

Amboise, massacre of, 331. 
Treaty of, 330. 

America, North., communica. 
tion opened between France 
and, 377. War between En- 
gland and France in, 409, 
501, 502. Republic of, so- 
licits aid from France against 
England, 514. 

Amherst, General, 501, 502. 

.■Vmiens taken by Spaniards, 
373. Recaptured, 374. Peace 
of, 600. 9 

Anacletus, Pope, 129. 

Ancc-nis, Treaty of, 201. 

Ancients, Council of. See 
Council of Ancients. 

Ancre, D', Marchioness. See 
Leonora Galigai. 

Ancre, D', Marshal. See Con- 
cini. 

Audelot, the Sire D'. See Cha- 
tillon. 

Andclot, Treaty or "Plaid" 
of, 44. 

Andelys, fortresses of, 149. 

Andre, Mar.-hal St., 334, 336. 

Angarians, 05. 

Angelus, Alexius, 159. 

Angouleme,Duclie.-s of, daugh- 
ter of Louis XVI., 577. En- 
ters Paris withLouisXVIII., 
052. 

Angouleme, Duke of, 6j4. 
Commands a French expedi- 
tion against Spain, 669. Re- 
signs his claim to tUj throne, 
077. 

Aniane, school of, 73. 



708 



INDEX. 



EALDWIX. 



Anjou, Duke of, bi'other of 
Charles IX., 33S, 339. Be- 
sieges Kochelle, 344. Kle- 
vated to the throne of Po- 
land, ib. Besieges Cnmhrai. 
351. Betrothed to Elizabetli 
of England, ?b. Seizes Ant- 
werp, ib. Death, ib. 

Anjou, Gaston, duke of, broth- 
er of Louis XIII., 3'JT, after- 
ward Duke of Orleans, ([.v. 

Anne, queen of England, ac- 
cession of, 457. 

Anne, wife of Henry I., 113. 

Anne of Austria, wife of Lout? 
XIII., dSS. Animosity be- 
tween Richelieu and, 394, 
395. Iler clandestine corre- 
spondence witli the court of 
Spain, 402. Her regency 
during minority of Louis 
XIV.,~41D. 

Anne of Beauieu, daughter of 
Louis XL, 271, 272. 

Anne of Brittany, 273. Mar- 
ried to Charles VI I L, 274. 
Secondly to Louis XII., 283. 

Anquetil, llistoiy of France, 
14. 

Anselm, St. 127. 

Anselme, General, 550. 

Antiocli taken by Ci'nsadei-s, 
122. Taken by tlie Mame- 
luke Emir Bibars, 172. 

Antipolis (Antibes), 4. 

Antoine, St., battle of, 420. 
Faubourg, overpowered by 
General Menoii, 575. 

Antwerp besieged by the 
French, CS3. 

Apostolici, sect of, 120. 

Aquaj Stxtife, city of, 5. 

Aquitaine, 42. Invaded by 
Saracens, 53. Incorporated 
intoCarlovingian empire, 62. 
Kingdom of, coiistituted by 
Cliarlemagne, 63. 

Aquitani, 2. 

Aquitani:!, IG. I'rima, 33. 

Arago, COO, 099. 

Aragou, a dependency of Aqui- 
taine, 03. 

Arbogast, 24. 

Arc, D', Jeanne, Jlaid of Or- 
leans. Incorrect orthogra- 
phy. See Dare. 

Arcisrsur-.4ube, battle of, 044. 

Arcole, battle of, 533. 

Ar,;on, D', Chevalier, 517. 

Arelate (Aries), 5. School of, 
17. lioman remains at, 18. 

Argenson, D', war minister 
under Louis XV., 4S.1. Dis 
missed from office, 499. 

Argentier du Jloi, 520. 

Arians, 29. 

Ariovistus, Gennan chief, 6. 

Arietta, mother of William the 
Conqueror. 112. 

Arleux, Marlborough forces 
the camp at, 400. 

Armada, Bccoud, 515. 



Armagnac, Constable, assumes [Aumale, Duke of, son of Louia 

the direction of affairs, 240. | Philippe, 092. 
Armagnacs, their hostilities Aumont, 308. 

against the Burgundians, 'Ausculta, fili, papal bull, 134. 

237. Become masters of the Auskes. See Euskes. 

government, 233. >;umberS|Austerlitz, battle of, C13. 

massacred, 241. lAustrasia, kingdom of, 41, 42. 

Armorica colonized by Gauls, I Its wars witti Neustria, 43, 



2. By Cimri. 3. Conquer 
ed by Romans, S. 

.4.rnaud, St., General, 703. 

.\rnauld, 469. 

Arnulf, Bishop, 40. Chief min- 
ister, ib. 

Arques, successe.? of Henry IV. 
at, 300. 

Ai-ran, regent of Scotland, 320. 

Arras, peace of, 252. Treaty 
of, 209. Siege of, 422. 

Arri('ri'fief,ttiTiereBassal,1o2. 

Artevelde, James van, joins 
Edward III., 201. 

Artevelde, Philip van, 220. 

Arthur, duke of Brittany, 147, 
148. 

Artois incorporated with the 
French dominions, 403. 

Artois, 1)', Count, his debts, 
520. Emigrates, 539. Aban- 
dons La \"endee, 578. Lieu- 
tenant General of France, 
651. Enters Paris witli I^ouis 
XVIIl.. 052. His reaction- 
ary policy, COO, G09, C70. 
Succeeds to the thi'ono as 
Charles X. See Cliarles X. 

Aspern, battle of, 025. 

Assembly, Constituent. See 
Constituent Assembly. 

Assembly, liCgislative. See 
Legislative Assembl}\ 

Assembly, National. See Na- 
tional Assembly. 

•Assembly of Notables. See 
Notables, Assembly of. 

Assignats, their origin, 539. 
Suppression of, 580. 

Assisi, D', Df n Francisco, mar- 
ries Isabella, queen of Spain, 
091. 

Astolph, king of the Lombards, 
01. 

Ataulphus, leader of the Visi- 
gotlis, 20. 

Aidicr.'i ^ationaux, 693, 699. 

Attalia. See Satalia. 

Attila, 27. His march upon 
Gaul, 28. 

Aubigne, D', historian, 366. 

Aubigny, D", Captain, 091. 

Aubigny, Stuart D', leader of 
the French army in the war 
against Italy imder Louis 
XII., 234,235. 

.Vudoen. See Ouen. 

.\ugsburg, League of, 443. 

August, tenth of. .551, 552. 

Augustus III. of Poland, 430. 

A\igustU3, Philip. See Philip 
II. 

Aumale, Duke of, brother of 
Henry of Guise, 359. 



44. Conclusion of first great 
struggle between Neustria 
and, 40. War between Neu- 
stria and, 49. 50. Union 
under Pepin d'Heristal, 50. 

Austrasians defeat Neustrians 
at Vinci, 51. 

Austria, project of Henry IV. 
for the humiliation of the 
house of, 331. House of, its 
alliance with Fr.ance during 
the regency of Mary de Med- 
icis, 330. Invaded by Turks, 
437. Disputed succession to 
throne of, upon the death 
of diaries VI., 433. Her 
alliance with France for the 
partition of Prussia, 500. 
Espouses the cause of Louis 
XVI., 545, 546. Combines 
with Russia and England 
against France imder the 
Empire, 612. Invades Ba- 
varia, 024. Napoleon's cam- 
paign against, ib. ,020. Com- 
bines with Russia and Prus- 
sia against Napoleon, C39. 
Keconquers her possessions 
on tlie Adriatic, 042. Her 
war with Lombardy and 
Sardinia, 700. Re-estab- 
lishes her dominion in Italy, 
701. 

Austiians defeated by Bona- 
parte, 531, 532. Their suc- 
ces.ses under Archduke 
Charles, 533. Defeated at 
Arcole and Pivoli, ib., 534. 
Tbeir struggle with Bona- 
parte in Italy, 597, 598. 
Sign Treaty of Luneville, 
599. 

Ausonius, poet, IS. 

Autun sacked by Moors, 53. 
School of, 17. 

Avaricum (Bourges), siege 
of, 9. 

Avars, kingdom of, subjugated 
by Charlemagne, OS. 

Avignon, siege of, 100. Ceded 
to the Pope by Philip IIL, 
174. Residence of the popes, 
ISO. 

B. 

Badajoz, siege of, C32. 

Bagaudie, 22. 

Bmtlis, 153, 230, 406. 

Bailly, president of the Na- 
tional Assembly, 530. May- 
or of Palis, 533. Executed, 
509. 

Baldwin of Boulogne, brother 
of Godfrey de Bouillon, ac- 



BALDWIN. 



INDEX. 



BKUNAUI). 



709 



companies his brother on the 

, first crusade, I'il. Succeeds 
liim as king of Jerusalem, 
122. 

Baldwin V., count of Flanders, 
guardian of Philip ]., 113. 

Baldwin IX., count of Flan- 
ders, emperor of the Fast, 
159. 

Baldwin, count of Ilainault. 
engages in first crusade, 121, 

Banquets, political, 093, G'Ji. 

Barante, be, G(J5. 

Barbarossa, 313. 

Barbarou.x, 551). 

Barbe-Marbois made president 
of tlie Council of Ancients, 
5S5. Arrested, 5SG. 

Barbos, CSS, CSS. 

Barcelona, siege of, 461. 

Barnave joins the Feuillants, 
543. (iuillotiued, 50'.). 

Barras, 5T4. Appoints Napo- 
leon Bonaparte to serve un 
der him, 579. One of the 
five Directors, 5S0, 5S1, 5S5, 
501. 

Barrere, president of the Con- 
vention, 55S. Member of tUe 
Committee of Public Saft'- 
ty, 505, 50S. Imprisoned, 
575. 

Barricades, Day of the, 356. 

Barry, Countess du, mistress 
of Louis XV., 507. Guillo- 
tined, 569. 

Bart, Jean, corsaii', 449. 

Barthelemy, member of the 
Directory, bSb. Arrested, 
5S0. Banished to Cayenne, 
ib. His escape, ib. 

Bartholomew, St., massacre 
of, 342. 

Basina, 30. 

Basle, treaty of, 577. 

Basnage, 442. 

Basques, their wars with Char- 
lemagne, 07, 03. 

Bassompierre, Jlarshal, 337, 
399. 

Bastile, foundations of, laid, 
222. Attack on the, 532. 

Battle of Aboukir, 5S1). Agh- 
rini, 44;5. Agincourt, 239. 
Agnadel,2?9. Albuera, 632. 
Almauza, 403. Arcis-sur- 
Aube, 044. Arcole, .''(S3. 
Arques, 306. Asperu, 025. 
Austerlitz, 013. Bautzen, 
G3S. Beachy Head, 445. 
Borodino, 034. Bouviues, 
15.'S. Bnyne, 445. Blenheim, 
460, 461. Chalons, 2S. Co- 
mines, ISO. Conmna, 023. 
Coutras, 354. Crucy, 205. 
Denis, St., .337. Dettingen, 
490. Divio (Dijon), 10. 
Dresden, 039, 040. Dreu.K, 
330. Eekmiihl, 024. Kylau, 
617. Fleurus, 440, blC: 
Fontaine -Fran;ai.se, 373. 
Fontenay, S2. Fontenoy, 



492. Fornovo, 277. Fried- 
land, 617. Fuentes de Onor, 
032. Furnes, ISO. Gaza, 
107. Grandella, 171. Gran- 
son, 260. Hasbain, 230. 
Hastings, 114. Hohenlin- 
den, 599. llogue. La, 44S. 
1 vry, 307, 30S. Jarnac, 33S. 
Jemmapes, 557. Jena, 010. 
Krasnoi, 036. Landen, 449. 
Lawfeld, 493. Leipsic, 040. 
Lens, 413. LeuUien, 501. 
Ligny, 650. Lutterberg, 501. 
Lutzen, 038. Maida, C15. 
Malo, St., 179. Malplaquet, 
464. Mansourah, 169. Ma- 
rengo, 598. Marignano, 296. 
Marsiglia, 449. Minden, 503. 
Molwitz, 4SS. Moucontour, 
33S. Monteil,217. Montl'- 
hery, 200. Morat, 206. 
Mount Tabor, 5S9. Muret, 
153. Navarino, 672. Neer- 
winden, 534, 565. Nile, the, 

583. Nordlingen, 4<l0, 412. 
Novara, 701. Novi, 530, 591. 
Orthez, 048. Oudenarde, 
403. J'arma, 480. Bassaro, 
Cape, 470. Favia, 303. Pi- 
acenza, 4!13. Pinkie, 320. 
I'oitier.s, 209, 211. Prague, 

500. Pyramids, the, 5SS! 
Kamillies, 461. Kaucoux, 

493. liavenna, 290. Kivoli, 

584. liocroi, 411. Kosbach, 

501. Kosebecque, 220. Eure- 
monde, 570. Saintes, 160. 
Salamanca, 033. Seneffe, 
435. Sintzheim, 434. Spurs, 
the, 202. Steinkirk, 448. 
'i'agliacozzo, 171. Talavera, 
626. Testry, 50. Tiberias, 
144. Toulouse, 04S. Tra- 
falgar, 013. Valmy, 556. 
Vimiera, 022. Vittoria, 042. 
Wagram, 025. Wateiloo, 
057, 000. Zorndorf, 501. 

Bautzen, battles of, C2i. 

Bavaria, its annexation to the 
empire of Charlemagne, 09. 
Unites with Austria against 
Napoleon, 640. 

Bavaria, the electoral prince 
of. Charles II. of Spain be- 
queaths to him his whole do- 

■ minions, 453. Death. 456. 

Bavaria, elector of, joins Mar- 
hal Villars, 4J9, 460, 461. 

Bavaria, Charles, elector of, 
disputes the claims of Maria 
Theresa in Austria, 483. 
Proclaimed emperor by the 
title of Charles VII., 48'. 
Signs the Treaty of Frank- 
fort, 491. Death, ib. 

Bavaria, Maximilian Joseiih, 
elector of, his treaty with 
Maria There>a, 491. 

Bavard, 2SS, 2U5, 302. 

Bayle, 442. 

Baze, 703. 

Beachy Head, battle of, 445. 



Beam, province of, 391. 

Beatrice, daughter of Kaymond 
Be renger, count of Provence, 
married to Charles, count 
of Anjou and Maine; son of 
Louis VIII., 107. 

Beai'nois, name of Ileniy of 
Navarre, 366. 

Beaugency, council of, 141. 

Beauharnais, Eugene de, step- 
son of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
made viceroy of Italy, 609, 
624. 

Beaujeu, the Sire de, husband 
of Anne, daughter of Louis 
XL, 271, 272. 

Beaujolals, Count of, brother 
of Louis Philippe, 6S1. 

Beaulieu, abbey of, 149. 

Beaulieu, favorite of Charles 
VI L, 245. 

Beaulieu, General, 581. 

Beausobre, 412. 

Beauvais, siege of. 264. 

Beauvilliers, Duke of, 45C. 

Beck, General, 413. 

Becket, Archbishop, 142. Pie- 
ceived by Louis VI I., 142. 

Bedeau, General, 699, 70.':. 

Bedford, John, duke of, g .v- 
erns FV.ance as regent, '.-i4 

Beds of justice, institution of, 
202, 40S. 

Belenus-ApoUo, altar of, 18. 

Belgaj, their conquest of 
Northern Gaul, 3. 

Belgians proclaim a republic, 
557. 

Belgica, 3. 

Belgiun), Frank.s gain posses- 
sion of, 27. Declared to be 
incorporated with I'lance, 
579. United with Holland 
under the house of (Ji-ange, 
052. Its insurrection against 
the government of King 
William, 082, 633. Its in- 
dependence declared, 083. 

Bellefond.s, Jlarshal, 4-18. 

Belleisle, Marshal de, 4S9, 492. 

Belliard, General, 047. 

Benedict, abbot of Aniane, 76. 

Benedict XL, Pope, 185. 

Benedict XII I. , Pope, 232. 

Bem-Jicium, 131. 

Benihgsen commands the Kus- 
sians against Napoleon, 617, 
610. 

Benningen, Tan, Dutch em- 
bassador, 431. 

Beresford, Marshal, 632. 

Beresina, passage of the, 037. 

Berg. Hee Cleves. 

Bergerac, Treaty of, 350. 

Berkeley, Admiral, 449. 

Berlin, entry of Napoleon into, 
610. 

Bernard, St., 128, 129. Apos- 
tle of second crusade, 13S. 

Bernard, Duke, of Saxe-Wei- 
mar, 401. Death, 402. 

Bernard, CSS. 



'10 



BKKNAKD. 



INDEX. 



BRITTANY. 



Bernard, Great St., Napoleon's 
passage of, t>'.)~. 

Bernadotte, Marslial, made 
prince royal of Sweden, tiSI, 
C33, 640. 

Bernhard, duke of Septimania, 
TS, 79. 

Bernhard, king of Italy, revolt 
of, 7T. Death, ib. 

Berquin, Louis de, burnt as a 
heretic, 309. 

Berry, Duchess of, OTT. At- 
tempts to excite a civil war 
in La Vendee, 6S4. 

Berry, Duke of, 652. Assas- 
sinated, 065, 606. 

Berryer, OSS. 

Bertha, Princess, wife of Rob- 
ert the Pious, 106. 

Bertha, wife of Pliilip I., im- 
prisoned, 116. Death, 117. 

Berther, mayor of the palace, 
50. 

Berthier, Alexandre, serves in 
America, 516. 

Berthier hung by the mob at 
the outbreak of the Itevolu- 
tion, 534. 

Bertrade de Monfort, 116, 117, 
1'23. 

Bertrand, General, 654, 001, 
690. 

Berwick, Duke of, 433. In- 
vades Spain, 477. Killed, 
4S6. 

Besrae, 342. 

Bethlehem, Count of, 123. 

Beurnonville, General, 550. 

Beza, Theodore, 341). 

Beziers, storming of, 152. 

Bibars, Sultan, 1T2, 173. 

Billaud - Varennes, 545, 568, 
573. Imprisoned, 575. 

Biron, Marshal, 340, 356, 308, 
370, 374. Conspires with the 
Duke of Savoy against Hen- 
ry IV., 379. Death, 380. 

Biron, General, 546. Guillo- 
tined, 569. 

Black Pestilence, 200, 215. 

Blanc, Louis, 096, 098. 

Blanche of Aquitaine, wife of 
Louis le Faineant, 99. 

Blanche of Castile, niece of 
King John of England, mar- 
ried to Louis VIII., 148, 160. 
Kegency of, 104, 165. Gov- 
ernment coniided to her dur- 
ing absence of her sou Louis 
IX., 167. Death, 170. 

Blanche of Navarre, wife of 
Philip VI., 206. 

Blancmesnil, 415. 

Blanqui, 684. 

Blenheim, battle of, 460, 461. 

Blois, Charles of, nephew of 
Philip VI., claims Brittany 
in opposition to John, count 
of Montfort, 203. 

Blois, treaty of, 287. 

Blucher takes possession of 
Nancy, 643. Arrives at 



Paris, 645. His campaign 
aaain.«t Napoleon iu 1S15, 
054, 657, 062. 

Bohemond, prince of Taren- 
tum, 121. 

Boileau, 469. 

Bonaparte, genealogy of fam- 
ily, 010. 

Bonaparte, Jerome, 607. Made 
King of Westphalia, 61S. 

Bonaparte, Joseph, commands 
the French army invading 
Naples, 014. Proclaimed 
King of Naples, ib. liaised 
by his brotlier to the throne 
olt' Spain, 621. Unable to 
maintain possession of the 
capital, li)., 626. Ke-enters 
Madrid, 683. Dethroned, 
642. Chief counselor of Ma- 
ria Louisa, 644. Authorizes 
the surrender of Pai'is, 645. 

Bonaparte, Louis, 607. Cre- 
ated King of lloUand, 014. 
Abdicates, 630. 

Bonaparte, Imcien, 007. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon. See Na- 
poleon. 

Boncliamps. 537. 

Boniface VIIL, Pope, 179. Me- 
diates between England and 
France, ISO. His struggle 
with Philip the Fair, 183, 
1&5. 

Boniface IX., Pope, 232. 

Boniface, St. See Winifrid. 

Bonnivet, Admiral, commands 
French army invading the 
Milanese, 302. Death, 303. 

Bordeaux sacked by Saracens, 
53. 

Bordeaux, school of, 17. 

Bordeaux, siege of, 418. 

Bordeaux, Duke of (Henry V.), 
son of the Duke of Berry, 
007, 070, 677, 6S6. 

Borgia, Caesar, son of Pope 
Alexander VL, 2S3. 

Borodino, battle of, 634. 

Boroughs, constitution of, 124. 

Boscawen, Admiral, 494, 501, 
502. 

Boson, Duke, revolt of, 91. 

Bossuet, 469, 470, 471. 

Bouchain captured by Marl- 
borough, 4J150. Eecaptured,' 
ib. 

Boucicaut, Marshal, 239. 

Boufflers, Marquess of, 444 
Opposed to Marlborough, 
458. Serves under Villars 
in Flanders, 404. 

Bouillo, Marquess of, 516. Ar- 
ranges the escape of Louis 
XVI., 541. Gives up the 
enterprise, and crosses into 
Germany, 542. 

Bouillon, Duchess of, 417. 

Boulogne surrendered by the 
English, 321. Camp at, 605. 

Bourbon, Antoine de, duke of 
Vendome, 327. King of 



NavaiTe, leader of the Prot- 
estants, 327, 332. Appoint- 
ed lieutenant general, 333. 
Keoonciled to tiie Church of 
Home, 334. Death, 335. 

Bourbon, Cardinal of, uncle of 
Henry of Navarre, 352. Pro- 
claimed king by his brother 
the Duke of Jlayenne. 365. 
Death, 368. 

Bourbon, Charles, duke of, 
made constable, 295. Re- 
volts against Francis I., 301. 
Attacks France, 302. De- 
feats the French in Italy, ib. 
Recovers his possessions by 
the treaty of Madrid, 305. 
Invader the States of the 
Church, 306. Death, ib. 

Bourbon, Duke of, prime min- 
ister of Louis XV., 4S1. Dis- 
missed from office, 483. 

Bourbon, house of, its estab- 
lishment on the throne of 
France, 375. Established on 
the throne of Spain, 468. 

Bourdaloue, 469. 

Bourdonnais, La, opposes the 
English in India, 493. 

Bourges, council of, 160. 

Bourmont, General, deserts 
Napoleon before the battle 
of Waterloo, 050. Minister 
of Charles X., 673. Com- 
mands an expedition against 
Algiers, 674. 

Boutliillier, Secretai')', 406. 

Bouvines, battle of, 155. 

Boyne, battle of tlie, 445. 

Brandenburg, Elector of, hi-i 
alliance with William of 
Orange against Louis XIV., 
433. 

Breda, Treaty of, 429. 

Breslau, Treaty of, 490. 

Bretigny, Treaty of, 214. ^ 

Breze, ftlarquess of, 531. 

Brifonnet, bishop of Meaux, 
his protection of the Re- 
formers, 309. 

Brienne, De, archbishop of 
Toulouse, 520. Succeeds 
Calonne, 521. His struggle 
with the Parliament, ib. 
Counsels Louis to convoke 
the States-General, 522. Re- 
signs, ib. 

Brisach, siege of, 401. 

Brissac, Count de, appointed 
governor of Paris, 371. Sur- 
renders it into the hands of 
the Royalist.=, 372. 

Brisson, president of the Par- 
liament, 309. 

Brissot, leader of the cCtti 
gauche, 544. 

Brittany, disputed succession 
to, 203. Insurrection in, 
against Charles V., 220. In- 
corporated with French em- 
pire, 274. The descent of 
the English fleet upon, 577. 



BKOGLIIC. 



INDEX. 



CELESTIN'E. 



11 



Broglie, Marshal, advances to 
the succor of Prague, 4S.t. 

Broglie, Marshal, commands 
the army concentrated upon 
Paris during the struggle 
between the National As- 
sembly and the court, 531. 

Brosse, Pierre de la, 1T5. 

Broussel, 415, 410,421. 

Bructeri, 2T. 

Brueys, Admiral, 5S7. 

Brune, General, 591. Marshal, 
064. 

Brunechilda. See Brunehaut. 

Brunehaut, wife of Sighebert 
of Austrasia, 43, 44, 45. 
Death, 40. 

Brunet, General, guillotined, 
509. 

Brunswick, Duke of, com- 
mander-in-chief of the allied 
armies against France at the 
Eevolution, 540, 556. Gen- 
eralissimo of the Prussian 
forces against Napoleon, 010. 

Brussels taken by Mai'shal 
Saxe, 493. Taken by Jour- 
dan and r'ichegru, 570. 

Bruyere, La, 409. 

Bruys, I'eter de, heresy of, 129. 

Buch, Captal de, 210, '213. 

Buckingham, Duke of, 393. 
His enmity toward Kiche- 
lieu, 395. Assists the Hu- 
guenots of La ISochelle, ib. 

Bude, or Budteus, 310. 

Bugeaud, Marshal, 692, 695. 

Bulow, Prussian general, 043, 
650. 

Burgundians invade Gaul, 24. 
Extend their dominions, 20. 

Burgundy, 39. Anne.xed to em- 
pire of Pranks, 41. Founda- 
tion of second ducal house 
of Burgundy, 216. Annex- 
ed to the French monarchy, 
267, 26S. 

Burgundy, Charles the Bold, 
duke of, his enmity as count 
of Charolois against Louis 
IX., 259. Succeeds his fa- 
ther as Duke of Burgundy, 
261. His struggles with 
Louis XI., ib. Visited by 
Louis at Peronne, 202. De- 
clares war against France, 
204. Defeated by the Swiss, 
206. His death, 200, 207. 

Burgundy, Jean sans Peur, 
duke of, Ills quarrel with 
Louis of Orleans, 2.33. Placed 
at the head of the govera- 



parture of the regent Louis 
of Anjou for Naples, 220. 
Replaced at the head of af- 
fairs on account of the im- 
becility of Charles VI., 231. 
Death, ib. 

Burgundy, Philip le Bon, duke 
of, son of Jean sans Peur, his 
alliance with England, 242. 
Reconciliation with Charles 
VIL, 252. 

Bute, Lord, English minister, 
504. 

Byng, Admiral, 500. 

Byron, Admiral, 515. 

C. 
Caboche, skinner, 237. 
Cabochlens defend Paris 

against the Armagnacs, 237. 

Second insurrection of, 23S. 

Massacre Armagnacs, 241. 
Cadoudal, Georges, Chouan, 

006, 60S. 
Cfesai', Caius Julius, C. His 

victory over the Germans, 7. 

Conqu&st of Gaul, 7, S, 9, 10. 
Cahierg, 280. 

Cairo taken by Bonaparte, 6SS. 
Calais, siege of, 200. Recov- 
ered by the French, 325. 
Calonne, minister of finance, 

519, 520. Banished, 521. 
Calvinists persecuted by Louis 

XIV., 330, 331, 440, 442. 
Cambaceres associated with 

Bonaparte in the Consulate, 

596, 601. 
Cambrai, League of, 2SS. 
Cambrai, Peace of, called the 

Pai.x; des Dames, 30S. 
Cambronne, General, 054. 
Camisards, insurrection of the, 

400. 
Campo,Formio, Treaty of, 536. 
Canada, French colonies estab- 
lished in, 377. Surrendered 

to England, 504. 
Capeluche, executioner, 237. 
Cai'ET, Hugh, defends Paris, 

99. Proclaimed king, 100. 

Reign, 104, 106. 
Capetian dynasty founded by 

Hugh the Great, 98. 
Capitularies of Charlemagne, 

72. 
Carbon, 601. 

Carbonari, secret society, 60S. 
Carcassonne taken in crusade 

against .41bigenses, 152. 
Cardona, don Ramon de, Span- 

isli viceroy, 290. 



ment, ib. A league formed, Caribert, son of Clotaire, 42 



to overthrow him, '.'35, 2:16. 
Forms a league with Queen 
Isabella, 240. Re-enters Par- 
is, 241. .Murdered, 242. 
Burgundy, Philip the Bold, 



Carloman, son of Charles Mar- 
tel, retires into a monastery, 
55 
Carloman, son of Louis le 
Bi'gue, 91. Death, 92. 
duke of, receives the duchy Carloman, son of Pepin leBref, 
of Burgundy from his father, j 03. 

John, 215. Administers af-i Carlos, Don, son of Philip V., 
fairs in France after the de-l 478, 484. Succeeds to the 



duchy of Parma, 484. Takes 
possession of the throne of 
the Two Sicilies, 487. 

Carlovingian dynasty, founda- 
tion of, 56, 100. 

Carlovingian empire, disunion 
of, 82. Final dismember- 
ment of, 93. Causes of its 
decline and fall, 100. 

Cai-melites, slaughter of two 
hundred priests at church 
of the, 554. 

Carnac, druidical monument 
of, 13. 

Carnot, 568, 580, 581, 585, 580., 

Caroline Books, 75. 

Caroline, queen of Naples, 
daughter of Maria Theresa, 
614. 

Carrel, 684. 

Carrickfergus seized by the 
French, 503. 

Carrier, president of the Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal at Nan- 
tes, 509. Guillotined, 575. 

Casale, siege of, 396. 

Cases, Las, Count, 661, 690. 

Cassino, Monte, monastery of, 
5j. 

Castanos, General, 021. 

Castelnau, Peter de, appointed 
to root out heresy in Langue- 
doc, 151. 

Catalonia a dependency of 
Aquitaine, 68. United to 
the croivn of France, 403. 

Cateau-Cambresis, peace of, 
327. 

Catharine of Braganza mar- 
ried to Charles II. of En- 
gland, 428. 

Catharine, empress of Russia, 
504. 

Catharine de Medicis nego- 
tiates with the Huguenots, 
339. Plans the death of Co- 
ligny, 341. Pei-suades the 
king to sanction the massa- 
cre of the Huguenots, 342. 
Confederacy formed against 
her, 344. Appointed regent 
by Charles IX. at his death, 
345. Makes concessions to 
the Protestants, 348, 356. 
Death, 359. 

Catharine, wife of Heniy V. 
of England, 243. 

Cathelineaii, 507. 

Catherini, sect of, 151. 

Catinat, Marshal, 449, 457, 458. 

Cauchon, Pierre, bishop of 
Beauvais, 250. 

Caulaincourt, 037, 647, 648. 

Caussidiere, 084. 

Caussin, Jesuit, 402. 

Cavaignac, 699, 700, 703. 

Cavalier, Camisard chieftain, 
400. 

Celestine IL, Pope, 137. 

Celestine HI., Pope, 146. Re- 
monstrates with Philip Au- 
gustus, 147. 



■12 



CKLLAMAUK. 



INDEX. 



CHILDKBKRT. 



(Jellamaie, conspiracy of, 470, 
477. 

Cellini, Benvenuto, 317. 

Celtibei'i, 4. 

(Jelts divided into two branch 
e?, 2. Their iive dialects, 2. 

Centenarii, 72. 

Centre, neutral party in the 
National Convention, 557. 

Cerda, Charles de la, constable 
of France, 207, 208. 

Cevennes, mines of, 3. 

Chaise, La, confessor of Louis 
XIV., 440. 

Chalons, battle of, 28. 

Chamavi, 27. 

Clianiber of Deputies, estab- 
lished on the Restoration, 
C52, 053. Dissolved by Louis 
XVII I., GG5, 070, 672, G74. 
Its divisions under Louis 
Pliilippe, OSS. 

Chambord, palace of, 317. 

Cliambre Ardente^ 476. 

Chambre des Comptes. 40G, 
520. 

Chambre de VBdit^ 407. 

Chambre des Enqxietcs, 400. 

Chambre des Plaidoiries^ 403. 

Chambres des lieqitetes, 40G. 

Chnmbres de Reunion, 43S, 
439. 

Chamillart, 45S. Dismissed 
from office, 4G3. 

Champ de Mars, Bailly fires 
upon the mob in, 543. 

Champagne, Duke of, son of 
Pepin d'Hei'istal, 51. 

Champeaux, William de, 127. 

Champlain, founder of Quebec, 
377. 

Changamier, General, 702, 703. 

Chantelauz?, De, trial of, GS3, 
CS4. . 

Charette, 567, 577, 573. Shot, 
57S. 

CiTARLEMAGNE, SOU of Pepin le 
Bref, reign of, 63-75. Char- 
acter, 75. 

CiiAKLES I., the Bald, son of 
Louis I.,7S. Kingdom cre- 
ated in liis favor, ib. Ini- 
piisoned, 75). Kingdom of 
Aquitaine bestowed upon 
him, SO. Confined in the 
abbey of Priim, ib. Country 
west of the Meuse, Saone, 
and Rhone declared subject 
to, S3. His wars with Aqui- 
taine, Peptimania, and Brit- 
tanj', S6. His countiy in- 
v.ided by Normans, ib. 
Crowned emperor by Pope 
John VIII., 8S. Death, i6. 

C'liARi.KS II., the Fat, reign of^ 
92-'J3. 

CiiAELEs III., the Simple, 
reign of, 04-07. 

Charles IV., le Bel, reign of, 
102, 193. 

Charles V., the Wise, reign 
of, 21G-222. 



Ciiari.es VI., le Bien-Almo. 
reign of, 224-244. 

Charles VII., the Victorious, 
reign of, 244-256. 

Charles VI II. , r Affable, reign 
of, 271-279. 

Charles IX., reign of, 333- 
34.5. 

Charles X. See Artois, Count 
of. Reign of, G71-G7S. Ab- 
dicates, 077. 

Charles II. of England sup 
ports the Portuguese against 
ypain, 42S. Marries Catha 
rine of Braganza, ib. Con 
eludes a treaty with Louis 
XIV., 429. Concludes a sec 
ond treaty engaging to join 
Louis in the invasion of Hol- 
land, 431. Signs a peace 
with Holland, 434. Con 
eludes another treaty with 
Louis, 437. 

Charles 1 1, of Spain, his claim 
to the Netherlands disputed 
by Louis XIV., 429, 430. 
Bequeaths his dominions to 
the electoral prince of Bava 
ria, 453. Persuaded by his 
wife to destroy this testa 
ment, 455. Names Philip 
of Anjou as his successor, 
45j. Death, ib. 

Charles III. of Spain proclaim- 
ed at Madrid, 402. Defeated 
by Vendume, 40.5. Crown 
ed as Charles VI. of Ger- 
many, ib. 

Charles IV. of Spain, G19, 020, 
621. 

Charles VI., emperor of Aus- 
tria, 465. Death, 487, 4SS. 

Chailes Albert, king of Sar- 
dinia, 7i.0. Abdicates, 701. 

Charles, Archduke, son of Em- 
peror Leopold, becomes a 
candidate for the crown of 
Spain, 453. Proclaimed King 
of Spain as Charles III., 
461. 

Charles, Archduke, commands 
the Austrian army against 
the Republic, 5S3. Driven 
out of Italy, 012. Collects a 
force in Hungaiy, 613, 623, 
624. 

Charles, count of Anjou and 
Maine, son of Louis VIII., 
marries Beatrice, daughter 
of Raymond Berenger, count 
of Provence, 167. 

Charles, count of Valois, sec- 
ond son of Philip III., do- 
minions of King of Aragon 
conferred by the Pops upon, 
176. Renounces pretensions 
to Aragonese crown, 17S. 
Marries Marguerite of An- 
jou, ib. 

Charles, dauphin, son of John, 
assumes the government 
while his father is imprison- 



ed in England, 211. Regen- 
cy of, ib., 215. 

Charles, dauphin, son of 
Charles VI., 240. 

Charles of Anjou, son of Louis 
VIII., invested with the Two 
SicUies, 171. Defeats King 
of Tunis, 173. Conspii'acy 
against him, 175, 176. Death, 
177. 

Charles of Austria, Charles 
v., emperor, ascends the 
■ throne of Spain, 298. Suc- 
ceeds Maximilian as Emper- 
or of Austria under the title 
of Charles V., 299. His al- 
liance with Henry VIII. of 
England, rt., 300. Enters 
into secret compact with 
Pope Leo X., 301. His wars 
with Francis, i&., 314. tJon- 
federacy against, 321, 323. 
His abdication, ib. 

Ciiarles of Provence, son of the 
Emperor Lothaire, 87. 

Charles the Bad, king of Na- 
varre, grandson of Louis X., 
207, 20S, 211, 213, 214, 220. 

Charles the Bold, duke of Biu-- 
gundy. /b'ce Burgundy, duke 
of. 

Charles, son ef Charlemagne, 
74. 

Charles, son of Louis d'Outre- 
mer, made Duke of Lower 
Lorraine, 98, 99. Prosecutes 
his claim to the crown, 104. 
Death, 105. 

Charlotte Corday, 500. 

Charta, Magna, signed, 155, 
150. 

Charter, Constitutional, C70, 
674, 677, 682. 

Charton, 415. 

Chartres, Duke de (aftei'ward 
King Louis Philippe), 565. 

Chartres, Robert, Due de, son 
of the D uke of Orleans, 692, 
696. 

Chasse, General, 083. 

Chastel, Jesuit, 372. 

Chateau-Renaud, 458. 

Chateauroux, Duchess of, mis- 
tress of Louis XV., 489, 491. 

ChatiUon, Cardinal de, 327. 

ClLitillon, Francois de, callel 
the Sire D'Andelot, nephew 
of Montmorency, 3^7. 

Chatillon, Jacques de, 181. 

ChatiUon, fortress of, taken by 
Philip Augustus, 143. 

Chatre, Pierre de la, 137. 

Chauvelin, minister of Louis 
XV., 4S6. 

Chavigny, Secretary, 400. 

Cherasco, Treaty of, 397. 

Chevalier, Jacobin, 000. 

Chevreuse, Madame de, 411. 

<Jhildebert, son of Clovis, 40. 
Death, 41. 

Childebert, son of Grimoald, 
48. 



OniLUICBEKT. 



INDEX. 



CONSTANTINE. 



713 



Childebert, son of Sighebert, 
proclaimed King of Austra- 
sia, 44. 

Childeric, 29. Death, 30. 

Childeric II., son of Clovis XL, 
4S, Murdered, 40. 

Childeric III., 55. Deposed, 

m. 

Chilperic, son of Clotaire, 42, 

• 43. Assassinated, 44. 

Chlodomir, son of Clovis, 40. 
Death, 41. 

Chlodowig, 30. 

Chlorus, Constantius, 22. 

Choiseul, 503. Suppresses the 
order of Jesuits in France, 
505. Coalition formed 
against, 50T. Banished from 
court, 5US. 

Chouans, 5TT. 

Clii'istian worship forbidden in 
the Reign of Terror, 570. 

Christianity embraced by Clo- 
vis, 32. Propagation of, as- 
sisted by conquests of Pepin 
d'Heristal, 50. 

Ohristophe de Beaumont, arch- 
bishop of Paris, his persecu- 
tion of the Jansenists, 497. 

Church, Christian, its founda- 
tion in Gaul, 19, 20. Per- 
secuted by Marcus Aurelius 
and Septimius Severus, 20. 
Spoiled by Charles Martel, 
52. Corrupt state, ib. Ee- 
formed by Pepin and Carlo- 
man, 55. Combines with 
the king and the peasantry 
against power of nobles, 123, 
124. Its struggle with the 
Parliament in the reign of 
Louis XV., 497, 498. Lib- 
erties of the Galilean 
Church, 470, 572. Its pos- 
sessions confiscated by the 
National Assembly, 538. 

Church restored by 15onaparte, 
002. 

Church, Protestant, first es 
tablished in Paris, 327. 

Churchill, Lord, 444. 

Cimri, their emigrations, 3. 

Cinq-Mars, 403, 404. 

Cintra, convention of, 622. 

Cisalpine Kepublic, 5S6. Re- 
modeled by Bonaparte, G03 
Transformed by Bonaparte 
into a monarchy, G09. 

Citeaux, monastery of, 128, 

Ciudad Rodrigo, siege of, 031. 
Captured by Wellington, 
032. 

Civilis, Claudius, insurrection 
of, 19. 

Claire, Cleraence de Maillo, 
wife of the great Cundo, 411, 
418. 

Clairfait, Austrian general, 
557. 

Clairvaux (Clara Vallis), mon- 
astery of, 128. 

Claude, Princess, daughter of 



Louis XII., and wife of Fran- 
cis I., 295. 

Claude Lorraine, 459. 

Clausel, Marshal, 687. 

Claviere, minister of finance, 
546. Dismissed, 547. Re- 
called, 553. 

Cleraence, Princess, second 
wife of Louis X., 190. 

Clement V., Pope, raised to the 
papal throne by Philip the 
Fair, 186. 

Clement VIL, Pope, 305. 
Taken prisoner by the army 
of Charles of Bourbon, 306. 

Clement VIIL, Pope, 373. 

Clement IX., peace of, 469. 

Clement XIV., Pope, abolish- 
es the order of the Jesuits, 
506. 

Clement, Jacques, monk, as- 
sassin of Henry III., 361. 

Clericis laicos, papal bull, 183. 

Clermont, council of, 117. Sec- 
ond council of, 118, 119. 

Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, dis- 
puted succession to duchy 
of, 381. 

Clisson, Olivier de, constable 
of France, 218, 224, 23L 

Cliton, William, son of Robert, 
duke of Normandy, 125. 

Clodion, 27. 

Clodowald, son of Chlodomir, 
41. 

Clootz, Anacliarsis, 570, 571. 

Clotaire, son of Clovis, 40. 
Death, 41. 

Clotaire II., son of Chilperic, 
44, 46. 

Clotaire IIL, 48. 

Clotilda, wife of Clovis, 31, 41. 

Clovis, reign of, 30-34. Con- 
sulship ol', 36, 37. 

Clovis, son of Chilperic, exe- 
cuted, 44. 

Clovis II., son of Dagobert, 48. 

Clue, M. de la, 502. 

Coburg, Prince of, commands 
the Austrians against Du- 
mouriez, 564. 

Cockburn, Sir George, 662. 

Code Civil, or Code A'apoleon. 
601. 

Codrington, Sir Ed\Tard, 672. 

Cognac, siege of, 420. 

Coliorn, Dutch engineer, 443. 

Coigny, Marshal, 486. 

Coiitier, Jacques, physician of 
Louis XI., 271. 

Colbert, 424. Made minister 
of finance, 428. His protec- 
tion of the Protestants, 441. 

Coligny, Admiral de, 324, u35, 
33(5,342. 

Coligny, Gaspard de, nephew 
of Montmorency, 327. 

College des Quatres Nations 
425. 

College Royal of France, or 
Trilingual college, 317. 

Colli, Geiiiyal, 581. 



CoUoredo, 640. 

CoUot d'Herbois, 557, 567, 573. 
Imprisoned, 575. Sentenced 
to transportation, ib. 

Colonna, Prosper, 295. 

Colonna, Sciarra, 185. 

Comines, battle of, ISO. 

Comines, Philip de, 204. His 
Memoires, 193. 

Commendation, 132. 

Committee of Public Safety, 
565. 

Committee of Surveillance, 
553, 554. 

Communes, Atfranchissemetit 
des, 124. 

Comnenus, Emperor Manuel, 
embarrasses the Crusaders, 
139. 

Compagnie des Indes, 403. 

Conceptualism, 127. 

(Jonciiii, Concino, favorite of 
Mary de Medicis, created 
jSIarquis D'Ancre and Mar- 
shal of France, 386, 388. 
Death, 359. 

Concordat between France and 
Rome in 1516, 297. In 1801, 
602. 

Condo, Louis, prince of, broth- 
er of the King of Navarre, 
leader of the revolt against 
the Guises, 330, 331, 338. 
Killed in the battle of Jar- 
nac, 338. 

Conde, the great, 411, 423. 
Invades Holland, 432. Op- 
posed to William of Orange, 
434,485. Succeeds Turenne, 
435. Death, 436. 

Conde, Prince of, head of the 
army organized by the 
Fi'ench emigrants on the 
Rhine, 544, 65.'. 

Conde, Princess of, 382. 

Condillac, 510. 

Condorcet, leader of the coto 
gauclie, 544. 

Confederation of the Rhine, 
615. Dissolved, 641, 042. 

Conflans, Count of, 503. 

Conflans, treaty of, 260. 

Conrad, emperor of Germany, 
joins in the second crusade, 
138. 

Conradine, son of Conrad, king 
of Sicily, beheaded, 171. 

Conseillem., 406. 

ConseilK supenetirs, six new 
tribunals instituted by Louis 
XV., 408, 508. 

Constance, daughter of Jlan- 
fred, and wife of Pedro of 
Aragon, 176. 

Constance of Castile. .°econd 
wife of Louis VII., 141. 

Constance, second wife of Rob- 
ert the Pious, 107, 109, 110. 

Constantine, his campaign 
against the Franks, 22. 
Elected to the purple, 25. 
Gains possession of the 



'14 



CONSTANTINI!:. 



INDEX. 



greater part of Gaul, 26. 
Executed, ib. 

Constantine in Algeria, expe- 
dition to, GST. 

Constituent Assembly, 698, 
699. Its disputes with the 
president, 702. Suppressed 
by the '•'coup d'etat," T03. 

Constitution perpetuelle, edict, 
46. 

Consulate, 595, 596, 60S, 609. 

Contades, Marshal, 503. 

Conti, Princess of, 399. 

Continental System, Napo- 
leon's 680, 631. 

Convention, National. See 
National Convention. 

Convulsionnaires, 4S5. 

Corbie, Arnaud de, minister, 
229. 

Corbie, siege of, 400. 

Cordelier club, 54'2, 514. 

Cordova, Gonsalvo de, takes 
possession of Naples, 2TT, 
286. Defeats the French 
army, 286. 

Corisande, countess of Gram- 
mont, mistress of Henry of 
Navarre, 355. 

Cormier, treaty of St. Aubiu 
du, 164. 

Comeille, 469. 

Cornelius Gallus, IT. 

Cornwall, Richard of, 166. 

Cornwallis, Lord, 516. 

Corsica annexed to France, 
50T. 

Corunna, battle of, 623. 

Coi-vee, dispute about the, 513. 

Cote droit, 543. 

Cote gauche^ 543, 544. 

Cotton, Jesuit, 3S(J. 

Council of Ancients, 5TS, 5T9, 
592. 

Council of Etampes, 129. 

Council of Five Hundred, 5TS, 
5T9. Forms a cabal to effect 
a change in the Directory, 
592. 

Council of Piacenza, 118. 

Council of State in early times, 
406. Under Napoleon, 595, 
601, 603. 

Council of Troyes, 129. 

Co^ip d'etat of Louis Napoleon, 
703. 

Cour pleniere^ 52). 

Couthon, 56T, 568, 572. Ar- 
rested, 5T3. 

Contras, battle of, 354. 

Coutumier, Code, 293. 

Cracow annexed to Austria, 
693. 

Craon, Pierre de, 230. 

Crassus, P., 8. 

Crecy, battle of, 205. 

Creniieux, 696. 

Croquy, Marshal, 436, 439. 

Crillon, Duke de, 51T. 

Croises, 119. 

Cromwell, his treaty ivith Ma- 
zarin, 423. 



Croupiers^ 526. 

Crusade, first, IIT, 118, 119. 

Crusade, second, 138. 

Crusade, third, 145. 

Crusade, fourth, 158, 159. 

Crusade, fifth, 16T, 169. 

Crusade, sixth, ITl, 1T2. 

Cuesta, Spanish commander, 
626. 

Cumberland, Duke of, 492, 500. 

Custine, General, 556. Con- 
demned to death by the Rev- 
olutionary Tribunal, 568. 

Customs, 525. 

Cyr, St., General, 605, 62T. 

D. 

Dagobert, son of Clotaire IL, 
46, 47. 

Dagobert III., 51. 

Dain, Olivier le, 268. 

Dames, Paix des. See Cam- 
brai. 

Damien?, attempts the life of 
Louis XV., 49S. 

Damville, Marshal de, 348. 

Dandelot, 335, 330. 

Daniel, History of France, 14. 

Danton, 544, 545, 550. Named 
minister of j ustice, 553. Pro- 
poses extreme measures, 554. 
Member of the Committee of 
Public Safety, 565. GuUlo- 
tined, 5T1. 

Dare, Jeanne, maid of Orleans, 
24-6-251. 

Darmes, attempts the life of 
Louis Philippe, 690. 

Daun, Marshal, 500, 501. 

Dauphin, origin of title of, 20T. 

Dauphine, insurrection in, at 
the outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion, 534. 

Davila, his history, 302. 

Davoust, 633. 

Deane, Silas, 514. 

Decades, 5T0. Abolished, 506. 

Decazes, favorite of Louis 
XVII I., 663, 665. Dismiss- 
ed, 666. 

Decius, Consul, victory of, 4 

Delessart, minister of Louis 
XVI., 546. 

Denis, St., 61. 

Denis, St., battle of, 33T. 

Desaix, 598. 

Deseze, selected to defend 
Louis XVI., 559. His speech, 
ib. 

Desmarets, Jean, advocate 
general, 225. 

Desmarets, nephew of Colbert, 
468. 

Desmoulins, Camille, 532, 544, 
550. Guillotined, 571. 

DessoUes, General, 665. 

Dettingen, battle of, 490. 

Diana-Arduinn.a, altar of, 18. 

Diana of Poitiers, mistress of 
Henry IT., 319. 

Diderot, 505, 510. 

Didier, king of Lombardy, 64. 



Dillon, General, 546, 553. 

Dionysius (St. Denis), 20. 

Directory, 578, 580. Internal 
feud of the, 585. Incapacity, 
590. Abolished, 592. 

Divio (Dijon), battle of, 10. 

Divion, Jeanne de, 200. 

Divitiacus, 7. 

Dixieme, .525. 

Djezzar Pacha, governor of 
Acre, 589. 

Doctrinaires, 065, 6T3, 6SS. 

Dotitaine Royal., 133, 406. 

Domingo, St., insurrection in, 
604, 605. 

DotninicK Tnissi, revival of, 
12T. 

Domitius Afer, 17. 

Donation of Pepin, 62. 

Doria, Andrea, Admiral, SOT. 

Douanes., 525. 

Downs, battle of the, 424. 

Dresden, battle of, 639, 640. 

Dresden, Treaty of, 492. 

Dreux, battle of, 336. 

Drouet arrests the flight of 
Louis XVI., 541, 542. 

Drouet, General, (j54. 

Druids, 11, 12, IS. ' 

Dubois, Abbey, 4T5, 477, 480, 
4S1. 

Ducange, 469. 

Ducasse, corsair, 449. 

Duchatel, Tanneguy, an Ar' 
magnac, 241, 242, 253. 

Duchene, Historia Francorum, 
14. 

Duguay-Trouin, corsair, 449. 

Dumanoir, Admiral, 613. 

Dumas, Mathieu, serves in 
America, 516. Leader of 
the Feuillants, 543. 

Dumouriez, General, minister, 
540. Resigns, 547. Appoint- 
ed to the cliief command of 
the army, 554. Attacked by 
the allies at Grandpre, 556. 
Suspected of treachery, ih. 
Undertakes the conquest of 
Belgium, 557. Makes an at- 
tempt to save Louis XVI., 
564. Sent against the Aus- 
trians, ib. Passes over to 
the Austrians, 565. Death, 
ib. 

Dunkirk, sieges of, 412, 422. 

Dunois, bastard of Orleans, 
215. Heads of the Prague- 
rie, 254. Commands the 
French army against the 
English in Normandy, 255. 

Dupan, Mallet, 547. 

Dupes, Day of, 398. 

Dupleix opposes the English in 
India, 493. 

Duplessis-Mornay, 360, 371. 

Dupont, 021. 

Duport organizes an opposi- 
tion to the crown, 521. Joins 
the FeniUants, 543. Guillo- 
tined, 569. 

Duprat, Antoiue, chancellor 



DUQUESNIi. 



INDEX. 



FET15. 



71J 



295, 297, 301. JVIade cardin 

al, 309. 
Duqiiesne, Admiral, 4?S. 
Duranthon, minister of j ustice, 

546. 
Duras, Marshal, 44-t. 
Duroc, grand marshal of the 

palace under Napoleon, 63S. 
Dutch appeal to Louis XIV. for 

succor against England, 429. 
Duvernay, Paris, 4S1, 4S2, 483. 

E. 

Ebroin, mayor of the palace, 
48,49. 

Eckmijhl, battle of, 624. 

Economistes, 513. 

Ecovcheurri, 253. 

Edessa, county of, 122. 

Edessa captured by Sultan of 
Aleppj, 138. 

Edgiva, wife of Hugh the 
Great, 98. 

Edict of Union, 357, 415. 

Edward I. of England makes 
war against PhiliiJ the Fair. 
179. 

Edward III. of England does 
homage to Philip VI. for his 
duchy of Guienne, 199. In- 
vades France, 202. Again 
invades France, 214. 

Edward, tlie Black Prince of 
Wales, defeats the French 
at the battles of Crecy, 205, 
anl Poitiers, 209, 210. As- 
sists Pedro the Cruel, 216. 
Captures Limoges, 213. 

Edward IV. of England in- 
vades France, 264. 

Eglantine, Fabre d', 544. Guil- 
lotined, 5T1. 

Egmont, Count of, 368. 

Egremont, Lord, succeeds Pitt, 
and declares war against 
Spain, 503. 

Egypt, Bonaparte's campaign 
in, 5S7, 588, 539, 500. Strug- 
gle betwec-n England and 
France in, 539, 600. 

Ehresburg, fortress of, 65. 

Elbee, D',5J7. 

Eleanor, sister of Arthur of 
Brittany, 149. 

Eleanora, daughter of William 
X. of Aquitaine, 126. Mar- 
lied to Louis le Jeune, ib. 

Eleanora, wife of Louis VII., 
accompanies him on the sec- 
ond crusade, 139. Divorced, 
140. .Married to Henry Plan- 
tagenet, 141. Death, 149. 

Eleanora, queen - dowager of 
Portugal, sister of Charles 
v., and wife of Francis I., 
308. 

Elgius. .S'«eEloi. 

1 Uioit, General, defends Gib- 
r.iltar, 517. 

LI zabeth. Archduchess, 

daughter of Maximilian II., 
and wife of Charles IX., 339. 



Elizabeth, daughter of Henry 
II. of France, married to 
Philip of Spain, 326. 

Elizabeth, Madame, accompa- 
nies Louis XVI. in his flight, 
541. 

Elizabeth, queen of England, 
her treaty with France, 326. 
Assists the Protestants in 
France, 335. Betrothed to 
the Duke of Anjou, 351. 
Promises to assist Henry IV. 
of France, 306. 

Eloi, St., bishop of Noyon, 47. 

Embriin, provincial council at, 
484. 

Emery, surintendant of tlie 
finances, 414. 

Emigrants, their descent upon 
Brittan)', 577. Eight hund- 
red shot to death, ib. 

Emigration of the nobility at 
the commencement of the 
Revolution, 53^. 

Encyclopsedist.^, 505. 

Encyclopodie, 510. 

Enghien, Duke of, murdered, 
607. 

England, Louis XIV. declares 
war against, 490. Her al 
liance witli Prussia in the 
Seven Years' War, 500. 
Prosecutes the war with Na- 
poleon, 599. Combines with 
Russia against France under 
the Empire, 612, 613. As- 
sists the Bourbons at Naples, 
615. Napoleon's famous de- 
crees against, 616. Assists 
Portugal against Napoleon, 
622, 626. Misunderstandings 
witli France under Louis 
Philippe, 689, 690, 691. 

Eiiregistrement in the Parlia- 
ment, 407. 

E'p.nicivJie, central trea.=?ury, 526. 

Eperiiou, Duke of, 351, 357, 
360, 365, 373, 377, 385. Lib- 
erates Mary de Medicis, 
390. 

Eponina, 19. 

Epremesnil, D', organizes an 
opposition to the crown, 521. 
Arrested, 522. 

Erasmus, 317. 

Erigena. See Scotus. 

Espinasse, Colonel, 703. 

Essex, Earl of, commands the 
English troops in France, 
36:». 

Estaing, Count D', 515. 

Estrades, Count 1)', French 
embassador in England, 429. 
Marshal, 436. 

Eslree.", Cnmte D' , 433. 

lEtampe-i, Council of, 139. 

JEtampes, Duchess of, mistress 
of Francis I., 309, 3 13. 

jEtaples, Treaty of, 274 

Etat, Tiei-s. See Tun Etat. 

■Etruria, King of, 620. 

lEudes (Odo), duke of Toulouse 



and king of Aquitaine, 51, 
52. 

Eudes, Count, defends Paris, 
92. Receives crown of 
Francs, 93. Death, 94. 

Eudes, Count, revolts against 
Henry L, 110. 

Eugene of Savoy, Prince, 449, 
457, 458. Unites with .Marl- 
borough, 460, 463, 466, 486. 

Eugenie Marie de Guzman 
married to Napoleon III., 
704. 

Eugenius, 24. 

Eugenius IIL, Pope, 138, 139. 

Eure, Dupont de 1', 696, 698. 

Euskes, 2. 

Eustace, brother of Godfrey de 
Bouillon, 121. 

EvfCh6s, Trois, 322, 326. 

Evreux, Jeanne d', wife of 
Charles le Bel, 193. 

Eylau, battle of, 617. 

F. 

Faineants, Rois, 47. 

Falaise, castle of, 149. 

Family Compact, 503. 

Farming the public taxes, 525. 

Farnese, Alexander, prince of 
Parma, 351. 

Farnese, Elizabeth, wife of 
Philip V. of Spain, 476. 

Fastolfe, Sir John, 245, 246. 

Favre, Jules, 684. 

Fayette, Marquis de la. See 
Lafayette. 

Fealty, 133. 

February, 1848, revolution of, 
694. 

Federation, fete of the, 539. 

Federcs, 549. 

Fenelon, 466, 469, 471. 

Feodum., 131. 

Ferdinand II., king of Naples, 
deserted by his troops, flies 
from Naples, 276. Contest 
with the French, 277. Re- 
enters Naples, ib. 

Ferdinand of Spain, the Catho- 
lic, his alliance with Charles 
XII. against Naples, 285. 
His marriage withGermaine 
de Foix, niece of Louis XII., 
287. Death, 298. 

Ferdinand VII., king of Spain, 
620, 668, 669. 

Ferdinand, emperor of Aus- 
tria, joins with Philip of 
Spain against France, 397. 

Ferdinand, Prince, of Bruns- 
wick, lieutenant of Freder- 
ick II. of Prussia, 501, .503. 

Fermiers-generaux, 376, 526. 

Ferrand, count of Flanders, at- 
tacked by Philip Augustus, 
154. Forms a coalition M'iil) 
Otho IV. and John of Eng- 
land, ib. 

FerriOres, school of, 73. 

Ferte, Marshal de la, 422. 

Fete de I'Etre Suprdme, 572. 



716 FKUDALISar. 



INDEX. 



GAUDIX. 



Feudalism, commeacement of 
decline of, ICG. Receives se- 
vere blows fi'om Louis XI., 
25S, 2T0. Final overthi-ow, 
2T4. 

Feudal constitution, formal es- 
tablishment of, S9. General 
immolation of, voted by Na- 
tional Assembly, 535. 

Feudal system, first gjrm of, 
41. Its origin under Charle.s 
Martel, 52. Explained, 139- 
135. 

Feudum^ 1.^51. 

Feuillade, Duke de la, 463. 

Feuillants, 54:3. Ministi-y cho- 
sen from the, 547. 

Fief, 131. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 300. 

Fieschi attempts the life of 
Louis Philippe, 085. 

Finances, state of, under Louis 
XV._, 478, 483, 496, 497. Ad- 
ministered by Tui'got, 513. 
By Necker, 514. Under Ca- 
lonne, 519, 520. Under the 
Directory, 5S0, 590. Under 
the Consulate, 597. 

Financial administration, 524- 
526. 

Firmont, Edgeworth de, priest, 
administers the last rites of 
religion to Louis XVL, 5G1. 

Five Hundred, Council of. See 
Council of Five Hundred. 

Flanders invaded by Philip 
Augustus, 154. Invaded by 
Philip the Fair, 179, ISO. 
lievolts against him, 181. 
Again invaded by him, 183. 
Invaded by Philip VI., 197, 
198. Revolt headed by Pliil- 
ip van Artevelde in, 236. 
Conde's campaign in, 413. 
Invaded by Louis XIV., 489. 

Flechier, 469. 

Flesselles, prevot des mar- 
chands, 532. 

Fleurus, battles of, 440, 570. 

Fleury, Abbs de, 474, 431, 4S2. 
Succeeds Bourbon as prime 
minister, 453, 4S6, 487, 488. 
Death, 489. 

Fleury, Joly de, minister of 
finance, 519. 

Flocon, 6S4, 696. 

Florence, insurrection at, 701. 

Foix, Gaston de, duke of Ne- 
mours, nepliew of Louis 
XII., 289. His successes in 
Italy, 290. Death, ib. 

Folembray, Treaty of, 373. 

Fontaine-Franpaise, battle of, 
373. 

Fontainebleau, palace of, 317. 
Secret treaty fif, between 
Napoleon and Godoy, 620. 
Treaty of, signed by Napo- 
leon and the Allies, 648. 

Fontenay, battle of, 82. 

Fontenelle, school of, 73. 

Fontenoy, battle of, 492. 



Forbin, corsair, 449. 

Forfeiture, 134. 

Foi-novo, battle of, 277. 

Fouage^ tax, 535. 

Foiiche, 567, 574, 606, 051. 
Minister of police, 663. Dis- 
missed, 663. Death, lb. 

Fougeres attacked by the Eng- 
lish, 255. 

Fould, minister of finance, 703. 

Foullon, minister, 534. Hung 
by the mob, ib. 

Foulques V., Count, 126. 

Foulques, priest, fourth cru- 
sade preached by, 153. 

Fouquet, Nicholas, 424. Sur- 
intendant of the finances, 
427. His disgrace, ib., 428. 
Death, 433. 

Fouquier-Tinville, public ac- 
cuser in the Reign of Terror, 
572. Guillotined, 575. 

Fox, English minister for for- 
eign affairs, 615. 

France, its modern history 
commences, 24. Divided 
among sons of Clovis, 40. 
Fresh partition upon death 
of Clotaire, 41. 

Franche-Comte invaded by 
Louis XIV., 434. 

Francia, 27. 

Franciscans, persecution of the, 
19L 

Feancis I., reign of, 295-317. 

Feancis IL, reign of, 329-333. 

Francis I., of Austi'ia, grand- 
duke of, Lorraine, husband 
of Maria Theresa, 491. Ele 
vated to tlie throne of the 
empire, 492. Recognized as 
emperor by the Treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 494. 

Francis II. of Austria espouses 
the cause of Louis XVL, 546. 
Signs the Treaty of Pres- 
burg, 614, 615. Combines 
with Pi-ussia and Russia 
against Napoleon, 639. 

Francis, duke of Guise, in- 
vades Italy, 324. Created 
lieutenant general, 335. Ac- 
quires absolute power, 330. 
His pei'secution of the Hu- 
guenots, 331. 

Frankfort, treaty of, 491. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 514. 

Franks, their invasions of 
• Gaul, 22, 23. Extend their 
dominion, 27. Their federa- 
tive constitution changed by 
Clovis into a monarcliy, 34. 
Extent of kingdom at death 
of Clovis, 39. Attack and 
defeat of the Lombards by, 
61. Origin of, discussed, 
35. 

Franks, Ripuarian, 24. 

Franks, Salian, 27. 

Fredegonda,concubine of Chil- 
peric, 43. Causes assassina- 
tion of Sighebert, 44. Con- 



test with Childebert, 45. 
Death, ib. 

Frederick Augustus II., elect- 
or of Saxony and king of 
Poland, death of, 485, 486. 

Frederick II. of Prussia op- 
poses the claims of Maria 
Thei'esa in Austria, 4SS. 
Concludes treaty of Breslau, 
490. Violates the treaty of 
Breslau, 491. Joins France 
■ against Austria, ib. Con- 
cludes the treaty of Dresden, 
492. Seizes Leipsic and 
Dresden, 500. Prosecutes 
the Seven Years' War, ib., 
591. Signs the Treaty of 
Paris, 504. 

Frederick, nephew of the Em- 
perorConrad, joins in second 
ci'usade, 138. 

Frederick of Hohenstauffen, 
154. 

Frederick, Prince, driven from 
Brussels, 683. 

Frederick William of Prussia, 
615, 616, 618. 

Fi-ench language, formation of, 
161. 

Frere, 62.3. 

Fretteval, Philip Augustus de- 
feated by Ricliard Cceur de 
Lion at, 146. 

Fribourg, Treaty of, 297. 

Friedland, battle of, 617. 

Frisians subdued by Pepin 
d'Heristal, 50. 

Froissart, the historian, 193. 

Fronde, war of the, 416-422. 

Fuentes de Ouor, b itileof, 032, 

Fulda, school of, 73. 

Furnes, battle cf, 18>). 

Fursteuburg, Cardinal de, 444. 



Gabelle, tax, 206. The citizens 
of Paris demand the aboli- 
tion of the, 224. 530. 

Gabrielle d'Estrees, mistress 
of Henry IV., 378. Death, 
ib. 

Gaels. See Gauls. 

Galeswintha, wife of Chilperia 
of Neustria, 43. 

Gai'lard, chateau, 149. 

Gallia Belgica, 16. 

Gallia Braccata, 5. 

Gallia Cisalpina, 5. 

Gallia Comata, 11. 

Gallia Lugdunensis, 16. 

Gallia Narbonensis, 5. 

Gallia Sequanensis, 26. 

Gallia Togata, 5. 

GalUachd, 2. 

Galway, Lord, 462, 463. 

Garibaldi, 701. 

Garnier-Pagos, 696, 698, 099. 

Gascony lost to the English, 
255. 

Gatian, 20. 

Gaudin, minister of finance 
during the Consulate, 597. 



INDEX. 



IIASBAIN. 



717 



Gaul, boundaries of, 2. Con- 
quered by Romans, T, S. 
Partitioned into four di.-i- 
tricts under Augustus, 16. 
Intellectual civilization, 17, 
18. New division, 22. In- 
vaded by Germans, 23, 24. 

Gauls, their emigrations, 2. 
Struggles with the Romans, 
4. 

Gaunt, John of, commands En- 
glish army invading France, 
219. 

Gaza, battle of, 16T. 

Geneva, Treaty of, 29T. 

Genlis, Countess of, 681. 

Genoveva (St. Genevieve), 28. 

Gensonne, leader of the Gi- 
roiidins, 544. 

Geoffrey, younger brother of 
Henry II. of England, 141. 

George II. of England joins 
his troops in person against 
France, 489, 490. 

Gerard, Marshal, 633. 

Gerberga, wife of Louis d'Ou- 
tremer, 98. 

Gerbert, archbishop of Reims, 
106. 

Gemiain, St., Count de, min- 
ister of Louis XVI. , 513. 

Germain, St., palace of, 317. 

Germaine de Foix married to 
Ferdinand the Catholic, 287. 

Germains, St., Treaty of, 339. 

Germans, their struggles with 
■ the Romans for possession 
of Gaul, 6. Again invade 
Gaul, 23, 24. Settle in the 
countiy, 24. 

Gerona, siege of, 177. 

Ghent, revolt of, 312. Taken 
by Louis XIV. , 437. 

Giac, De, favorite of Charles 
VII., 245. 

Gibraltar taken by Admiral 
Rooke, 431. Besieged by 
Spanish fleet, 483. Besieged 
by France and Spain, 517. 

Giocondo, Fra, architect, 2.93. 

Girardin, leader of the Feuil- 
lants, 543. 

Girondists, their advent to 
power, 546. Combine with 
the Jacobins, 547. Their 
opposition to the Montagne, 
558. Their vacillation, 559, 
560. Their fall, 535, 566. 
Twenty-one condemned to 
death by the Revolutionary 
Tribunal, 568, 569. Recall- 
ed to their seats in the Con- 
vention, 575. 

Gisele, Princess, wife of Sollo, 
C5. 

Gloucester, Duke of, son of 
Charles L, 423. 

Gobel, "■constitutional" bish- 
op of Paris, 570. 

Godefrid, Norman chieftain, 
92. 

Godfrey de Bouillon, engages 



in the first crusade, 120. 
Made King of Jerusalem, 
122. Death, ib. 

Godolphin, 465. 

Godoy, Don Manuel, "Prince 
of the Peace," his secret 
treaty with Napoleon, 619, 
620, 621. 

Gohier, Director, 591. 

Goislard, Parliamentary lead- 
er of the opposition, arrest- 
ed, 522. 

Gombette, Loi, 33. 

Gondebald, Burgundian king, 
32. 

Gondemar, king of Burgundy, 
41. 

Gonthran, son of Clotaire, 42, 
43, 44. Death, 44. 

Gosselin, bishop of Soissons, 
137. 

Goth, Bertrand de, raised to 
the papal throne by Philip 
the Fair, under the title oif 
Clement V., 186. 

Gottschalk, monk, 91. 

Goujon, Jean, 317. 

Gourgaud, General, 661. 

Grammont, Marshal, 412. 

Granada, Treaty of, 2S5. 

Grand' Chambre, 406, 407. 

Grandella, battle of, 171. 

Granson, battle of, 266. 

Granvelle, Cardinal, 327. 

Grasse, Count de, 516, 517. 

Gratian, 24. 

Graves, Admiral, 510. 

Greek kingdom, its independ- 
ence of the Ottoman Porte 
assured, 672. 

Greeks, their colonies in Gaul, 
4. 

Gregory III., Pope, 54. 

Gregory IV., Pope, demands 
from Louis I. fulfillment of 
constitution of 817, 79. 

Gregory V., Pope, excommu- 
nicates Robert the Pious, 
106. ■ 

Gregory VII., Pope, his men- 
aces against Philip I., 116. 

Grenville, Lord, 590. 

Grimoald, son of Pepin of Lan- 
den, succeeds him as mayor 
of the palace, 4S. His at- 
tempt to usurp the crown, 
ib. 

Grimoald, son of Pepin d'Ho- 
ristal, assassinated, 61. 

Grouchy, Marshal, 657, 65S, 
65). 

Guadet. leader of the Giron- 
dins, 544. 

Guastalla seized by the French 
under the Consulate, 003. 

Guebriant, De, 401. 

Guelf, Count, of Bavaria, joins 
second crusade, 138, 139. 

Guernon - Uanville, trial of, 
083, 6S4 

Gueselin, Bertrand du. Gen- 
oral, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220. 



Guiafer, Duke, 62. 

Guiche, Marshal de, 404. 

Guichen, Admiral, 515. 

Guiscard, Robert, 115. 

Guise, Charles of, archbishop 
of Reims, afterward cardinal 
of Lorraine, 320. Shares the 
government with his broth- 
er, 330. 

Guise, family of, 320. 

Guise, Claude, first duke of, 
"20. 

Guise, Francis, duke of, com- 
mands French army against 
Charles V., 323. Governs 
Francis II., 330. Head of 
the Catholic party, 333-335, 
3D6. Assassinated, 336. 

Guise, Henr3', duke of, 342, 
347, 348. Organizes a Catli- 
olic league, 349. Plots ti) 
obtain the succession to the 
throne, 351, 352. All the 
chief ijosts of authority be- 
stowed upon, 353, 354, 353. 
Assassinated, 359. 

Guise, Duke of, in the reign 
of Henry IV., 369, 373. 

Guiton, mayor of La Rochelle, 
395. 

Guizot, 665. Minister, C86, 
687. Leader of the Centrj 
Droit, 688. Embassador to 
the English court, 689. Min- 
ister for foreign affairs, 690, 
691, 693. Resigns, 694. 

Gundbald, monk, 79. 

Gustavus Adolphus, king of 
Sweden, 400. 

Guy of Flanders, 170, ISO. 

Guyon, Madame, 471. 

Guzman, Dominic de, 151. 

H. 

Hachette, Jeanne la, 264. 

Haganon, minister of Charles 
tiie Simple, 90. 

Haguenau, diet at, 143. 

Hakim, Caliph, destroys tin; 
church of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, 103. 

Halle, Treaty of, 381. 

Hanau, battle of, 641. 

Hanover invaded by the 
French under the Consulate, 
605. Resumed by England, 
641. 

Hanse, 14D. 

Hanseatic towns seized by Na- 
poleon, 630. 

Harcourt, Count, 402, 420. 

Harcourt, Marquess of, French 
embassador in Spain, 456. 

Harding, St. Stephen, 12S. 

Hardy, Admiral, 515. 

Harengs, Journee des, 240. 

Ilarlai, President de, 350. 

Harley, his correspondence 
with de Tore)-, 405. 

Haro, Don Luis de, prime min. 
ister of Spain, 423. 

Htisbain, battle of, 233. 



718 



IIASTIiXG. 



INDEX. 



INNOCENT. 



Hasting, Norman leadei', ST. 

Hastings, battle of, 114. 

Hauranne, Duvergier de, Jan- 
senist, 4G9. 

Hautefort, Mademoiselle de, 
401. 

Hauteville, Tancred de, the 
sons of, 114, 115. 

Havana attacked by the En 
glish, 503. 

Hawise of Gloucester, ■wife of 
King John of England, 14S. 

Hawke, Admiral, 503. 

Hebert, 569. Executed, 570. 

Hebertists, faction of the, 56D. 
Condemned to death, 5T0. 

Heinsius, 455, 45S. 

Helvetius, 510. 

Henricians, sect of, 129. 

Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis 
Xni., married to Charles, 
prince of Wales, 393. 

Henrietta, Princess, of En- 
gland, married to Philip, 
duke of Orleans, brother of 
Louis XIV., 42S, 431, 432. 

Henriette d'Entr;igues, mis- 
tress of Henry IV., 3T8. 

Henriot, 565. Arrested, 5T4. 

Henky I., reign of, 109-113. 

Henky II., reign of. 319-32S. 

Henky III., reign of, 34T-361. 

Henry IV., reign of, 365-3S3. 
For early life, see Henry of 
Navarre. 

Henky V. See Bordeaux, duke 
of. . 

Henry I. of England, hia war 
with Louis VI., 125. 

Heniy H. of England, 141. 
Joins third crusade, 144 
His quarrels with Philip 
Augustus, 145. Death, ib. 

Henry III. of England, hostil 
ities between Louis VIII 
and, 159. His war with 
France, 166. 

Henry IV. of England enter 
into an alliance with the 
Orleanist party in France, 
237. 

Henry V. of England invades 
France, 23S. Again invades 
Fi-ance, 240, 241. 

Henry VI. of England pro- 
claimed King of France, 244. 
Crowned at Notre Dame, 
251. . 

Henry VIII. of England in- 
vades France, 292. His al- 
liance with France, 304. 
His treaty with Charles V., 
314. Takes Boulogne, 815. 
His treaty with Francis I., 
ib. Death, ib. 
Heniy VI., emperor of Ger- 
many, 140. 
Heniy of Navarre man-ies 
Marguerite of Valois, 341. 
Pi'ofesses the Eoman faith, 
343. Joins in a confederacy 
against Catharine de Mcdi- 



cis, 344, 347, 348. Descent 
of, 351. Leader of the Prot 
estant party against the 
League, 353, 354. His alii 
ance with Henry III. against 
the League, 360. Becomes 
King of France. See Henry 
IV. 

Herault de Sechelles, 56S, 
Guillotined, 571. 

Hermengarde, wife of Charle- 
magne, 03. 

Hermengarde, Empress, wife 
of Louis I., 77. Death, ib. 

Heruli, 29. 

Hilary, St., bishop of Poitiers, 
21. Death, ib. 

Hilderic. See Childeric. 

Hincmar, Archbishop, 90, 91. 

Hire, La, 253. 

Hoclie, General, 577, 5S5, 586. 

Hocquincourt, D', Marshal, 
420. 

Hofer, Andrew, leader of the 
Tyrolese, 624. 

Hogue, La, battle of, 448. 

Hohenlinden, battle of, 599. 

Holland invaded by Louis 
XIV., 432, 433. Invaded by 
Marshal Saxe, 493. Her war 
with England in the reign 
of Louis XVI. , 516. Appeals 
to France for protection, ib. 
Invaded by the Republican 
army under General Piche- 
gru, 576. Annexed to France 
by Napoleon, 630. Expels 
the French authoi'ities, 642. 
United with Belgium, 652. 
Separated from Belgium, 
683. 

Homagium., 133. 

Hompesch, De, grand master 
of the Knights of St. John, 
5SS. 

Hongrie, Le Maitre de, 170. 

Honorius, Emperor, 26. 

Honorius III., Pope, proclaim 
a second crusade against the 
Albigenses, 157. 

Hood, Admiral, assists Toulon 
in resisting the Convention, 
507. 

Hopital, Chancellor de 1', 332, 
333. 

Hortense, mother of Louis Na- 
poleon, 638. 

Ilouchard, General, guillo- 
tined, 569. 

Howe, Lord, 517. His victoiy 
over the French, 576. 

Hu Cadarn, chieftain of Cimri, 
3. 

Hubertsburg, treaty of, 5"4. 

Hugh (Hugues) of Lorraine, 

92. 
Hugh, count of Vennandois 
and Valois, engages in first 
crusade, 120. 
Hugh le Blanc, or the Great, 
father of Hugh Capet, 90, 
97, OS. 



Hugh Capet, King. See Capet. 

Hughes, Sir E., Admiral, 518. 

Hugonet, Chancellor, 268. 

Huguenots, origin of name, 
330, note. Persecution of 
the, 380, 331. Acquire pow- 
er, 332, 334. Catharine de 
Medicis grants complete tol- 
erance to, ib. Take up arms, 
335, 336. March upon Paris, 
337. Defeated at Jarnac, 
■ 33S. Defeated at Moncon- 
tour, ib. Massacre of, 342. 
Wars of, 347, 348, 353, 354, 
357. Their alliance with 
Henry III. against the Catli- 
olic League, 360, 365. Take 
up arms against Louis XIII., 
391, 392. Their rising un- 
der the dukes of Rohan and 
Soubise, 364, 396. Perse- 
cuted by Louis XIV., 441, 
442. 

Humi^res, D', Marshal, 444. 

Hundred Days, 655. 

Hungarians, their revolt under 
Kossuth, 700. 

Hungary rises in defense of 
Maria Theresa, 489. 

Huns, 28. 

Huruge, St , 548. 

Hutchinson, General, 600. 

Hyder Ali, sultan of Mysore, 
517. 



Iberi, south of Garonne, 2. 

Ibrahim Bey, 589. 

Imbercourt, the Sire D', 268. 

Importans, faction of the, 411. 

Independents, party of, 605. 

Indies, East, struggle between 
France and England in, 493, 
494. French assist Hyder 
Ali against the English in, 
517. 

Indies, West, contest between 
France and England in, 516, 
517. 

Ineffabilis, papal bull, 184. 

Infanta Clara Eugenia, daugh- 
ter of Philip II., 367, 369. 

Ingelberga of Denmark, sec- 
ond wife of Philip Augustus, 
147, 148. 

Innocent II., Pope, 129. Quar- 
rels with Louis VIL, 137. 

Innocent III., Pope, interposes 
between Philip Augustus 
and Richard Cceur de Lion, 
146, 147. Violent struggle 
between Philip Augustus 
and, 147. Pei-secutes here- 
tics in Languedoc, 151. In- 
vites Philip Augustus to 
conquer England, 154. Com- 
mands fourth crusade to be 
preached, 15S. 

Innocent X., Pope, 429, 469. 

Innccent XI., Pope, his quar- 
rel with Louis XIV., 470. 
Innocent XII., Pope, 456. 



INQOISITION. 



INDEX. 



LANCELOT. 



'19 



Inquisition, its establishment 
at Toulouse, 164. Suppress 
ed in Spain by Ferdinand 
VII., 60S. 

Irenseus, 20. 

Irene, Empress, 71. 

Irmensul, Saxon idol, 65. 

Isabella, daughter of Philip 
the Fair, affianced to Ed- 
ward, prince of Wales, ISO. 

Isabella of Angouleme, 148. 

Isabella of Aragon, wife of 
Philip III., 174. 

Isabella of Bavaria, wife of 
Charles VI., 227. 

Isabella, Queen, sister of 
Charles le Bel, conspires 
against her husband, Ed- 
ward II., 193. 

Isabella, Queen of Spain, mar- 
ried to Don Francisco d'As- 
sisi, 691. 

Isabella, wife of Philip Augus- 
tus, 143. 

Italy, the wars of Louis Xn. 
against, 2S4, 292. Bona- 
parte's campaign in, 6S1. 

Ivry, battle of, 86S. 

J. 

Jacobin Club, 542, 544. 

Jacobins comlDine with the Gir- 
ondist.?, 547. Seize the su- 
preme authority, 552. Op- 
posed to the Girondists, 557, 
55S. Establish the Keign of 
Terror, 567, 56S. Their fall, 
574, 575. Their attempts 
to stir up an insurrection, 
575. 

Jacqueline, Countess of Hain- 
ault and Holland, 244, 245. 

Jacquerie, insurrection of the, 
212. 

Jaffa besieged by Bonaparte, 
5S9. 

James II. of England at St. 
Germains, 443. Assisted by 
Louis XIV. against William 
III., 445. His last attempt 
to recover England, 446, 44S. 

Jansenists, 469, 470, 471, 4S4, 
4S5. Persecuted by Chris- 
to]jhe de Beaumont, 407. 

Jansenius, 409. 

Jarnac, battle of, 338. 

Jeanne d'Albret, 327. 

Jeanne d'Albret, wife of the 
King of Navan-e, 327, 335, 
338, 330. Death, 340. 

Jeanne Dare, maid of Orleans, 
See Dare. 

Jeanne, daughter of Raymond 
of Toulouse, married to Al- 
phonse, count of Poitiers, 
1&4. 

Jeanne of Valois, wife of Rob 
ert d'Artois, 200. 

Jemmapes, battle of, 557. 

.Tena, battle of, 616. 

i erusalem taken by Cru.^aders, 
122. Captured by Saracens, 



144. Sacked by Kharis- 
mians, 167. 

Jerusalem, Assises de, 123. 
Foundation of Latin king- 
dom of, 122. 

Jesuits banished from France, 
372. Attacked by Pascal, 
469. Their order suppress- 
ed in France, 505, 506. Ban- 
ished from Spain by Ferdi- 
nand VII., 668. Their edu- 
cational establishments sup- 
pressed, 672. 

Jeuncsse Doree, la, 574, 575. 

Jews persecuted by Robert the 
Pious, lOS. Persecution of 
the, 192. 

John, le Bon, reign of, 207- 
216. 

John, Archduke, commands 
the Austrians at Hohenlin- 
den, 599. Collects a force 
against Napoleon in Hun- 
gary, 613, 623. 

John, Don, of Austria, 423. 

John, duke of Touraine, 243. 

John, king of England, war 
between Philip Augustus 
and, 148, 149, 150. Loses 
his possessions in France, 
150. Endeavors to recover 
them, 150, 154, 155. 

John XXII., Pope, his influ- 
ence on Philip v., 191. 

John, St., his correspondence 
with De Torcy, 465. 

Joinville, Sire de, his Me- 
moires, 193. 

Joinville, Prince de, 630. At- 
tacks Mogador, 692. 

Joppa, Marquis of, 123. 

Johnstone, Commodore, 517. 

Joseph du Tremblay, Capu- 
chin, 401. 

Josephine de Beauhamais 
married to Napoleon Bona- 
parte, 5S1. ' Divorced, 627. 

Joubert, General, 590. 

Jourdan, General, 576, 583, 
026. 

Joyeuse, Duke of, 351, 354, 
373. 

Joyous Entry, impost of the, 
4S2. 

Judges, 406. 

Judith, second wife of Louis 
I., 77. Obliged to take the 
veil, 79. Reappears at court, 
ib. Imprisoned at Tortonia, 
80. Returns to France, 81. 
Death, 84. 

Julian subdues the Franks, 23. 
Proclaimed emperor, ih. 

Juliers. See Cleves, siege of, 
3S6. 

Julius II., Pope, attacked by 
the French array, 289. 

July, revolution of the Three 
Days of, 675, 676. 

Junot, General, 619, 620, 622. 

Jurieu, 442. 

Jui'ists, French, 400. 



Just, St., Freteau de, organ- 
izes an opposition to the 
crown, 521, 568. Arrested, 
573. 

Justice, administration of, 406. 

K. 

Kaunitz, Austrian minister, 
546. 

Kellermann, General, 556. 
Besieges Lyons, 507. Serves 
in Lombardy, 582, 598. 

Kempt, General, 053. 

Keppel, Admiral, 515. 

Kharismians sack Jerusalem, 
167. 

Kiersy-sur-Oise, council of, 89. 

Kilidge-.\rslan, Sultan, Cru- 
saders attacked by, 121. 

Kleber, General, 590, 539. 

Kloster-seven, convention of, 
600. 

Konigsegg, Marshal, 492. 

Koning, Peter, ISl. 

Kossuth, 700. 

Krasnoi, battle of, 636. 

Kray, General, 5i)0. 

Kutusotf, Russian general, 
opposed to Napoleon, 634, 
630. 

Kymri. See CimrL 

L. 

LabMoySre, General, 664. 

Labourdonnaie, Count, minis- 
ter of Charles X., 673. 

Lachasse, General, killed, 685. 

Lafayette joins the army of 
Washington, 515. Placed 
at the head of the National 
Guard in 1789, 533. At Ver- 
sailles, 537. Suspected by 
the Revolutionists, 543. Ad- 
herent of the Feuillants, 544. 
Court intrigues against, 545, 
540, 547. His last attempt 
to save Louis XVI., 543. 
Refuses to recognize the au- 
thority of the Assembly, 553. 
Imprisoned at Olmutz, 554. 
Commands the National 
Guard in 1S30, 676. 

Lafayette, Mademoiselle de, 
401, 402. 

Lafin, 380. 

Laffitte, 675, 676. 

Lally Tollendal, member of 
the National Assembly, 536. 
Resigns, 538. 

Lamarque, Genera], 684. 

Lamartine, 695, 698, 699, 700. 

Lamballe, Princess de, mur- 
dered, 555. 

Lambesc, Prince of, 532. 

Laraeth, Charles de, serves in 
America, 516. Joins the 
Feuillants, 543. 

Lamoignon-Malesherbeg. See 
Malesherbes. 

Lamoriciere, Genera], 692, 699, 
703. 

Lancelot, 469. 



720 



LANDEX. 



INDEX. 



LOL'IS. 



Landen, or Neerwinden, bat- 
tle of, 449. 

Langue d'oc^ 162. 

Lmigm d'oil^ 162. 

Langiiedoc, heresy in, 151. 
Reduced by Simon de Mont- 
fort, 152. Keaction in, 151. 
Louis VIII. prosecutes the 
war in, 153. Its submission 
to the crown of France, 164. 
Its revolt against Duke of 
Anjou, 221. 

Lannekin, Colin, Flemish 
leader, 109. 

Lannes, duke of Montebfllo, 
commands the advanced 
guard in ISOO, 537. Death, 
625. 

I.annoy, Viceroy, 303. 

Laon, Bishop of, advises 
Charles VI. to take the reins 
of government into his own 
hands, 229. 

La Keveilliere-Lepaux, 5S0. 

Launay, De, governor of the 
Ba-itile, 532. 

Laiiriston, General, 634. 

L.iu'.rec, Marshal, 295, 300, 
3' I!, 307. 

I^auzu'', Count of, 445. 

Lauzua, Duke of, serves in 
America, 516. 

Lavalette, Father, 605, 506. 

Law, John, 47S, 479. 

Lawfeld, battle of, 493. 

League, Catholic, during the 
reign of Henry IIL, 349, 300. 
During the reign of Henry 
IV., 366, 373. 

League, Holy, 2S9_, 305. 

League of the Public Good, 260. 

Lebas, 573. Shoots himself, 
574. 

Lebrun, 463. 

Lebrun, minister, 553. Guil- 
lotined, 539. 

Lebrun associated with Bona- 
parte in the consiilate, 536. 

Leclerc, Perrinet, 241. 

Leclerc, General, 604. Mar- 
ries Pauline, sister of Bona- 
parte, lb. Death, ib. 

Lecoq, Robert, bishop of Laon, 
211. 

Ledru-Eollin, 695, 698, C9J 
700. 

Les, Arthur, 514. 

L':febvre, Marshal, 624, 647. 

Legendre, 54S, 574. 

Leger, St., bishop of Autun, 49. 

Legion of Honor, instituted by 
Bonaparte, 602. 

Legislative Assembly com 
mences its sittings, 513. De- 
clares itself en pennaiience^ 
547. Proclaims that the 
country is in danger, 549. 
Ruled by the Jacobins, 552. 
Legislative Chamber under 
Napoleon, 595, 607, 618. 
Remonstrates with Napo 
lecm, 643. 



Legitimists, 684, 685. 

Legoix, butcher, 237. 

Leipsic, battle of, 640. 

Lemontey, leader of the Feu- 
illants, 543. 

Lenfant, 442. 

Lens, battle of, 413. 

Leo IX., Pope, 115. Taken 
prisoner by Normans, ib. 

Leo X , Pope, signs the Con- 
cordat, 297. Enters into a 
secret compact with Charles 
v., 301. 

Leonora Galigai, foster sister 
of Mary de Medicis, and wife 
of Concini, 386. Death, 390. 

Leopold, duke of Austria, 
takes prisoner Richard I., 
14G. 

Leopold", Archduke, brother 
of Ferdinand III., opposes 
Condii in Flanders, 413. 
Promises help to the Fronde, 
417. Joins Turenne, 418, 
422. 

Leopold of Saxe-Coburg made 
King of the Belgians, 683. 
Marries Princess Louisa, 
daughter of Louis Philippe, 
ib. 

Lepers, persecution of the, 192. 

Lerida, siege of, 412, 413. 

Lescure, 537. 

Lesdiguieres, Marshal, 380. 
His conversion to Catholi- 
cism, 392. 

Letourneur, 580, 585. 

Leuthen, battle of, 501. 

Leyva, Antonio de, 303. 

Liege captured by the Bur- 
gundians under Charles the 
Bold, 203. 

Ligny, battle of, 656. 

Liguge, monastery of, 22. 

Ligurian republic, 603. An- 
nexed to tUe empire of 
France, 609. 

Lille captured by Philip Au- 
gustus, 154. 

Limoges, its capture by Ed- 
ward the Black Prince, 218. 

Lionne, 424. 

Lit de juntice, 408. 

Lobau, Count, 653, 675. 

Loi des suspects, 568. 

Loignac assassinates the Duke 
of Guise, 358, 359. 

Lombardy conquered by Char- 
lemagne, 64. Invaded by 
Francis L, 295. Its revolt 
against Austria, 700. 

Lorraine and Bar incorporated 
with the French monarch}', 
500. 

Lorraine, dispute between 
Gennany and the Legislative 
Assembly about fief of, .545. 

Lorraine, Cardinal of, 327. 

Lorraine, Charles of, opposed 
to Marshal Saxe, 493. 

liOngsword, William, earl of 
S:ili^bury, 97, 155. 



Longneville. Duchesse de, 41T, 

418, 470. ■ 
Longivy captured by the Allies 
during the Revolution, 554. 
Restored, 556. 

Loria, Roger de, Admiral, 176, 
177. 

Lothaire, son of Louis I. , made 
his associate in the empire, 
76. Conspires with his 
brother against his father, 
79. Real soveieignty passe, 
into his hands, ?b. Forfeits 
imperial title, ib. Again 
conspires against his father, 
ib. Proclaims himself sole 
emperor, 80. His flight into 
Burgundy, 81. Assumes the 
title of Emperor upon his 
father's death, 82. Defeated 
at Fontanay, ib. • Receives 
title of emperor from his 
bvothere, 83. Death, 87. 

Lothaire, king of Lorraine, son 
of the Emperor Lothaire, 87, 

Lothaire, son of Louis d'Ou- 
tremer, crowned, 98. Death, 
99. 

Lotharingia (LoiTaine), 83. 

Louis I., le Debonnaire, as- 
cends the throne, 75. 
Crowned at Reims by the 
Pope, 76. His sons conspire 
against him, 78. Retains 
the nominal government, 79. 
Reinstated on throne, ib. 
His sons again revolt against 
him, SO. Dispossessed of 
the empire a second time, 81. 
Death, 82. 

Louis II., son of Lothaire, 87. 
Death, 88. 

Louis III., son of Louis le 
Biigue, 91. 

Louis IV., D'Outremer, son 
of Charles the Simple, 97, 
98. 

Louis V., le Faineant, reign, 
99. 

Louis VI., le Gro-, reign of, 
123-127. 

Louis VII., le Jeune, son of 
Louis VI. , his marriage with 
Eleanora of Aquitaine, 126. 
Rdgn of, 136-143. 

Louis VIIL, reign of, 159, 160. 

Louis IX., St-, reign of, 164- 
173. 

Louis X. (le Hutin), reign of, 
189-191. 

Louis XI., reign of, 257-271. 

Louis XII., reign of, 282-293. 

Louis XIH., reign of, 387-400. 

Louis XIV., reign of, 410-471. 

Louis XV., reign of, 474^-511. 

Louis XVI., reign of, 512-562. 

Louis XVII., proclaimed king 
by the emigrant anny, 564. 
Deatli, 577. 

Louis XVIII., reign of 651- 
670. Sec Provcncp, Count 
of. 



LOUIS. 



INDEX, 



MARIA. 



721 



Louis le Begue, son of Charles 
the Bald, 91. 

Louis of Anjou, second son of 
John, king of France, deliv- 
ered up as liostage for his 
father, 215. Appointed re- 
gent during the minority of 
Charles v'l., 224. Named 
successor to the throne of 
Naples, 225. 

Louis, Prince, eldest son of 
Piiilip Augustus, marries 
Blanclie of Castile, 148. 
Croivn of England oiTered to, 
15G. * Marches against Ray- 
mond of Toulouse, 15T. Aft- 
erward Louis VIII. 

Louis, Prince of Conde, 327. 
Leads the revolt against the 
Guises, 330, 332. Becomes a 
member of the Council, 332, 

Louis the German, son of Louis 
I. , 76. Conspires against liis 
father, 78, 80. Attacks the 
Rhenish provinces, 82. His 
death, 88. 

Louis Pdilippb, duke of Or- 
leans, made lieutenant gen- 
eral of the kingdom, 677. 
Elected to the throne, ib. 
His descent, C80, 681. His 
life previous to his election 
as king, 681, 682. Rsign, 
633-G95. Abdicates, 685. 
Death, 697. 

Louis Napoleon. See Napoleon 

in. 

Louis, Chamber of St., 415. 

Louisa, daughter of Louis Phi- 
lippe, married to Leopold, 
king of the Belgians, 683. 

Louisa of Savoy, duchess of 
AngoulJ-me, appointed i-e- 
gent of France during the 
absence of her son Francis 
1., 295. Signs the psace of 
Cambrai, 308. 

Louisbui'g, siege of, 501. 

Louise de Vaudemont, wife of 
Heni-y IIL, 347. 

Louvel assassinates the Duke 
of Berry, 666. 

Lou vols, 441. His enmity to 
Lu.xemburg, 446. Death, 
ib. 

Louvre, its foundations laid by 
Pliilip Augustus, 153. 

Lowe, Sir Hudson, 667. 

Loyola, Ignatius, 300. 

Lucchesi-Palli, Count of, his 
marriage witli the Duchess 
of Berry, 684. 

Lucknei-, Marshal, 546, 553. 

Lugdunum (Lyons), city of, 17. 

laigenfeld, or Field of False- 
hood, SO. 

Luisa, infanta of Spain, mar- 
ried to the Duke of Mont- 
pensier, son of Louis Phi- 
lippe, 691. 

Lulli, 469. 

Luneville, Treaty of, 599. 



Lupus, Duke, leader of the 
Basques, 67. 

Lusignan, Hugh de, count de 
la Marclie, 148. Opposes the 
claims of Alpiionso of Poi- 
tou, 165, 166. 

Lutetia (Paris) 23. 

Luther, lieresy of, 308. 

Lutterberg, battle of, 501. 

Lutzen, battle of, 638. 

Luxemburg, Duke of, 436, 437, 
Commands French army in 
the Netherlands, 446. De- 
feats William III. of En- 
gland at Steinkirk, 448, 449. 
Death, 449. 

Luxemburg, province of, ceded 
to France, 439. 

Luxeuil, monastery of, 49. 

Luynes, the Sieur de, favorite 
of Louis XIIL, 339. As- 
sumes the chief direction of 
affairs, 390. Receives the 
Constable's sword, 391 
Death, ib. 

Lyceums, 618. 

Lyons, its resistance to the 
Convention, 567. Insurrec 
tions at, in the reign of Louis 
Philippe, 684. 

Lyons, Pauvres de, sect of, 
151. 

M. 

Mabillon, 469. 

Macdonald, Marshal, 647, 677. 

Machault, comptroller general, 
496,497. Minister of marine, 
4')8. Dismissed from office, 
409. 

Mack, General, 612. 

Madrid occupied by the allies 
after tlie battle of Salaman- 
ca, 633. 

Madrid, Treaty of, 305. 

JIaestricht, siege of, 494. 

Maid of Orleans. See Dare. 

Maida, battle of, 615. 

Maillard, leader of the marcli 
to Versailles, 536, 554. 

Maillart, Jean, slieriff of Paris, 
213. 

Maillotins, revolt of the, 225. 

Maine, Duke of, son of Mad- 
ame de Montespan, 468, 474, 
477. 

Maintenon, Madame de, mar- 
ried to Louis XIV., 440. Her 
persecution of the Protest- 
ants, 440, 441, 468. 

Maison Carree, Corinthian 
temple, 18. 

Maison, General, 672. 

Maitland, Captain, 661. 

Malebranche, 409. 

Malesherbes, Lamoignon de, 
508,509. Placed .at the head j 
of tlie houseliold of Louis 
XVL,513. Resi,gns,i&. Se-* 
lected to defend Louis XVI. , I 
559. 

Malestroit, troatv of, 204. I 

Hii 



Mallum, supreme court of the 
Fr.anks, 43, 50. 

Malo, St., battle of, 179. 

Malodeczno, bulletin of, 637. 

Malouet, member of the Na- 
tional Assembly, 536. 

Malplaquet, battle of, 464. 

Malta, Bonaparte takes posses- 
sion of, 583. Surrenders to 
the British, 599. Its inde- 
pendence guaranteed by all 
the powers of Europe, 600. 
England and France dispute 
about, 605. Ceded to Great 
Britain after the abdication 
of Napoleon, 652. 

Maltote, tax, 183, 525. 

Mandat, commander of the Na- 
tional Guards, 550. Death, 
ib. 

Mandats territoricatx., 530. 

Manfred, king of Sicily, 171. 

Manny, Sir Walter, 202, 204. 

Mansart, 469. 

Mansfeld, Count, 393. 

Mansourah, battle of, 169. 

Mansus, 130. 

Marais, Le, 557. 

Marat, 644. President of a 
committee of " surveiU 
lance," 553. Killed by Char- 
lotte Corday, 566. 

Maraviglia, 31(). 

Marcel, Etienne, prevot des 
marchands, 211. Heads an 
insurrection against the 
court, 212. Forms a plot 
against the daupliin, 213. 

Marengo, battle of, 508. 

Margarita, daughter of Philip 
IV. of Spain, married to Leo- 
pold of Austria, 453. 

Marguerite, daughter of Ray- 
mond Berenger IV., count 
of Provence, married to 
Louis IX., 165. 

Marguerite of Anjou, wife of 
Henry VI. of England, '254. 

Marguerite of Austria, regent 
of tlie Netherlands, signs tiie 
peace of Cambrai, 308. 

Marguerite of Flanders,wife of 
John of Montfort, 203, 204. 

Marguerite of Valois, sister of 
Charles IX., married to 
Heni-y of Navarre, 341. Di- 
vorced, 378. 

Marguerite, Princess, wife of 
Edward I. of England, 180. 

Marguerite, sister of Francis 
I., attaches herself to the 
party of the Reformers, 309. 

Marguerite, sister of Henry II. 
of France, m.arried to Phili- 
bert Emanuel, duke of Sa- 
voy, 326. 

Marguerite, wife of Louis X., 
190. 

Maria Anne of Neubui-g, wife 
of Charles II. of Spain, 45,5. 

Maria di Mancini, niece of Car- 
dinal M.Tzarin, 423. 



722 



INDEX. 



MONCONTOUK. 



Maria Leczynski, daughter of 
Stanislaus Leczynski, de- 
throned King of Poland, 
married to Louis XV., 4S2. 

Maria Louisa, wiie of Charles 
IV. of Spain, 021. 

Maria Louisa, wife of Napo- 
leon, 62T, 62S. Named re- 
gent, G44. Quits Paris, C45. 

Maria Theresa contracted to 
Louis XIV., 423. Their 
marriage, 424. Death, 440. 

Maria Theresa, Archduchess, 
married to the Duke of Lor- 
raine, 4S7. Her claims to 
the crown of Austria dis- 
puted on the death of 
Charles VI. , 483. Her treaty 
■with the Elector of Bavaria, 
491, 500. 

Marie, Kcpuhlican, C96, C39. 

Marie Amelie, daughter of Fer- 
dinand IV. of Naples, mar- 
ried to Louis Philippe, 681. 

Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis 
XVI., 512. Her extrava- 
gance, 520. Counsels the 
king to maintain his author- 
ity by force, 531. Her pres- 
ence at the fute of the Fed- 
eration, 540. Her execution, 
568. 

Marignano, battle of, 296. 

Marignano, Marquis of, 323. 

Marillac, brothers, conspira- 
tors against Richelieu, 308. 

Marlborough, Duke of, 449. 
Named generalissimo of the 
allied fores?, 458. His cam- 
paign of 1702, ib. His cam- 
paign in Germany in 1704, 
460, 401. His campaign in 
Flanders, 461, 462, 463, 404. 
His last campaign, 466. Dis- 
grace, lb. 

Marmande, siege of, 157. 

Marmont, Marshal, 632. C33, 
645, 647, 675, 677. 

Marmoutiers, abbey of, 22. 

Marot, Clement, 316. 

Marrast, A., 684, 696, 698. 

Mars Camul, altar of, 18. 

Marsiglia, battle of, 4iO. 

Marsin, Marshal, leplaces Vil- 
lars, 459, 460, 461, 462. 

Martel, Charles, Duke, 51, 55. 

]\lartialis, 20. 

Martignac, premier under 
Charles X., 672, 073. 

Martin, Duke, 49. 

Martin, St., Bishop of Tours, 
21, 22. Death, ib. 

Mary, daughter of Charles the 
Bcv;;, ■ id.uke of Burgundy, 
S.07. liarried to the Arch- 
duke Muximiliau of Austria, 

■ £68. De;ith, 269. 
Mary de Mediois, (;aua,!'.tcr of 
Grand -duke of Tiisci-.ny, 
married to Henry IV., 378, 
Appointed regent during the 
king's iibscncc, 382; made 



regent during minority of 
Louis XIIL, 385. Exiled to 
Blois, 389, 390. Liberated 
by Epernon, 391. Kecon- 
ciled to lier son, ib. Her in- 
trigues against Kichelieu, 

397. Exiled from the court, 

398. Retires to Brussels, ib. 
Death, ib. 

Mary of Lorraine, wife of 
James V. of Scotland, 320. 

Mai-y, sister of Henry VIII. of 
England, married to Louis 
XII., 293. 

Mary, sister of the Duke of 
Brabant, and second wife of 
Philip III., 175. 

Mary Stuart, 320. Affianced 
to the dauphin, 321. Mar- 
riage, 325. Her influence 
with her husband, 330. 
Death, 354. 

Masham, Mrs., 405. 

Massena, General, 590, 597, 
598, G12, 614, 624, 631, 632. 

Massilia, colony of, 5. 

Massillon, 469. 

Matignon, Jlarshal, 354. 

Matilda, Empress, daughter of 
Henry I. of England, mar- 
ried to Geoffrey Plantage- 
net, 125, 126. 

Maude, Empress, lier wan 
against Stephen, 137. 

Maupas, 703. 

Maupeou, Chancellor, 507, 509, 

Maurepas, minister of marine 
under Louis XV., 489. Min- 
ister of Louis XVL, 513. Op- 
poses Necker, 519. Death, 2 6. 

Maurevert, 341. 

Maurice, elector of Saxony, 
321, 322. 

Mayenne, Duke of, brother of 
Henry of Guise, 360, 365, 
373. 

Mayors of the palace, 42, 44, 
46. Acquire supreme pow 
er, 48, 56, 57. 

Maximilian of Austria enters 
into a league with Charles 
XH. against Venice, 2S8, 
Invades France with Hen- 
ry VIII. of England, 292. 
Death, 299. 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 397, 401. 
Elevated to a seat in the 
council, 405. Cliief minis 
ter, 410. His misgovern 
ment, 414. His war witli 
the Fronde, 410, 417. Joins 
the C.^,rdinal de Itetz a^^ai:: -^t 
the ■•'•young Fronde," 418, 
419. Retires to Havre, 4L9. 
Re-enters France, 4"10, 
Withdraws a second time 
beyond the frontier, 421. 
Hie) power confirmed, 422. 
Treaty with Cromwell, 42: 
NegotiiUej the marriage of 
louis XIV. and the i>eace 
of the Pyrenees, 423, 434. 



Mazarine Library, 425. 

Mazzini, 701. 

Meaux, persecution of Protest- 
ants at, 315. 

Medici, Catharine de', married 
to Henry, duke of Orleans, 
second son of Francis I., 310. 
Appointed regent, 322. Her 
alliance with the Guises, 
330. Favors the Bourbons, 
332, 339. Assumes the gov- 
ernment during the minor- 
ity of Charles IX., 339. 
Grants complete tolerance to 
the Protestants, 334. ■■ 

Mehemet All, rebellion of, 689. 

Meilleraie, Marshal la, 404. 

Melancthon invited to France 
by Francis!., 310. 

Mello, Francisco de, viceroy of 
the Netherlands, 411. 

Mellohrand, 24. 

Melzi, 003. 

Menou, General, 575, 599, GOO. 

Mercy, Count de, 411. 

Mere,- Poltrot de, 336. 

Merlin, 591. 

Merovingian dynasty, S9. End 
of, 53. 

Merovingian history, division 
of, 56. 

Messina besieged by Charles 
of Anjou, 176. 

Methuen, Treaty of, 459. 

Metternich, Count, Austrian 
minister, 639. 

Metz, 40, 42. School of, 73. 
Siege of, 323. 

Mezerai, father of French liis- 
toiy, 14. 

Mignard, 469. 

Mignet, 677. 

Milan claimed by Louis XII., 
284. French driven from, 
301. Taken by Bonaparte, 
59S. 

Minas, Marquess das, 463. 

Minden, battle of 503. 

Minorca taken by the French 
and Spanish fleet, 517. 

Miollis, General, 6i'6. 

Mirabeau, Count, 530. .531, 535, 
536. His secret correspond- 
ence with the court, 540. 
President of the Assembly, 
ib. Death, ib. 

Missi Dominici., 72. 

Mississippi or West India Com- 
panj', 47S, 479. 

Molay, Jacques du, G;':ind 
Master of the Templars, 187, 
ISO. 

Mol6, president of tlie Parlia- 
ment, 41(i, 417. 

Molt', Count, prem.ier. 687, GS3, 
094. 

Molevillo, Bertrand dc, minis- 
ister of LoLiin XVL, 54j 

Moliere, 469. 

Molwitz, battle of, 4SS. 

Moncey, General, .'598. 

M'oncoutour, battle of, 303. 



MONGE. 



INDEX. 



NAPOLKON. 



Monge, minister, 553. 

Moniteur, journal, CIS, 074. 

Mons, siegu of, 440. 

Moas-en-Piielle, victory of 
Philip the Fair at, 1S2. 

Monsieur, peace of, 34S. 

Montagnards, tried by a mili- 
tary commission, 575. 

Montague, La, 544. Its oppo- 
sition to the Girondists, 558. 

Montauban, siege of, 391. 

Montcalm, Marquess of, 501, 
50-2. 

Montecuculi, 413. 

Montecuculi, Count, 312. 

Montecuculi, Austrian gener- 
al, 433, 435". 

Montesquieu, 510. 

Montesquieu, General, invades 
Savoy, 550. 

Montferrat, disputed succes- 
sion to, 390. 

Montfort, John of, claims Brit- 
tany in opposition to Charles 
of Blois, 203, 204. 

Montfort, Simon, count of, 
marches against Albigenses, 
152. His supremacy estab- 
lished over Languedoc, 153. 
Killed at the siege of Tou- 
louse, 15T. 

Montgomery, 320. 

Montiel, battle of, 21T. 

Montl'hery, battle of, 200. 

Montmorency, Constable, 311, 
310, 319, 324 Retires from 
court, 330. Resumes the 
command of the army, 333. 
His alliance with the Duke 
of Guise, 333, 334. Defends 
Rouen, 335. Taken prison- 
er, 330. Death, 33T. 

Montmorency, duke of, unites 
with Gaston of Orleans 
against Richelieu, 399. 
Death, 399, 400. 

Montespan, Madame de, mis- 
tress of Louis XIV., 439. 

Montholon, General, 001, 090. 

Montpellier, Peace of, 392. 
Siege of, ib. 

Montpensier, Duke of, 354, 
308. 

Montpensier, Duke of, brother 
of Louis Philippe, 031. 

Montpensier, Duke of, son of 
Louis Philippe, marries Lu- 
isa, infanta of Spain, 091. 

Montpensier, Duchess of, sis- 
ter of the Duke of Guise, 
35S, 301. 

Montpensier, JIademoiselle de, 
daughter of Gaston, 420. 

Montreal, convention of, 5!)2, 

JIontreuil-sur-Mer, Treaty of, 
ISO. 

Montrevel, Marshal, 400. 

Moore, Sir John, 022, 023. 

Morat, battle of, 200. 

Moors, invasion of France by, 
53. 

Moreau, General, 583, 5S4. 



His campaign on the Rhine, 

599. Gains the battle of 
Hohenlinden, ib. Arrested, 
000. His trial and condem- 
nation, 008. Death, 040. 

Morny, Count, T03. 

Morocco, the war with Fi'ance, 
092. 

Mortemart, Duke of, named 
president of the council by 
Charles X., 676. 

Mortier, General, invades Han- 
over, 005. Marshal, 026, 
030, 045, 07T. Killed, 685. 

Mortimer, Roger, 193. 

Moscow, Napoleon's entry into, 
635. Retreat from, 036, 637. 

Moulin, General, member of 
the Directory, 591. 

Mounier, member of the Na- 
tional Assembly, 536. Pres- 
ident, 537. Resigns, 538. 

Mount Tabor, battle of, 5S9. 

Mourad I'ey defends Cairo 
against Bonaparte, 588, 5S9. 

Muffling, Baron, 662. 

Mulilberg, victory of, 320. 

Muley Abderrahman, emperor 
of Morocco, 692. 

Murat, General, 589, 592. Gov- 
ernor of Paris, 607. His 
campaigns, 620, 626, 634, 
637, 642. Death, 665. 

Muret, battle of, 153. 

Murray, General, 517. 

N. 

Namur, siege of, 449. Recap- 
tured by King William III. 
of England, 450. 

Nantes, edict of, 374, 375. Re- 
newed, 380. Revocation of, 
442. 

Nantes, revolutionary tribunal 
at, 509. 

Naples, Ch.arles VIII. of 
France acquires the sover- 
eignty of, 27.5, 270. Claim- 
ed by Louis XII., 284. Con- 
ferred by Pope Alexander 
VI. upon France and Spain, 
285. Taken possession of by 
Gonsalvo de Cordova, 280. 
Blockaded by the French un- 
der Francis I., 307. Taken 
by Don Carlos, 487. Napo- 
leon places his brother on 
the throne of, 014. Revolu- 
tionary movement in, 008. 
Its constitutional govern- 
ment overthrown by the 
Holy Alliance, 069. 

Napolkon I., Bonaparte, 
serves under Dugommier at 
the siege of Toulon, 507. 
Directs the military opera- 
tions against the msurgent 
sections, 579. Succeeds 15ar- 
ras, ib. His marriage, 581. 
Appointed to the command 
of the army in Italy, ib. 
Cuiupaigns, 5S1, 5S0. Uis 



authority over the Direct- 
ory, 582, 586. His entry 
into Paris, 587. His cam- 
paign in Egypt, 587, 588, 
589. Arrives in Paris from 
Egypt, 590. Combines with 
SieyGs to overthrow the Di- 
rectory, 591, ,593. Appoint- 
ed First Consul, 595. Makes 
proposals of peace to En- 
gland, 590. Later campaign 
against the Austrians in It- 
aly, 597, 598. Revolutionist 
and Royalist plots against 
him, 000, 001. Internal ad- 
ministration during the Con- 
sulate, 001, 002, 003. Elect- 
ed consul for life, 003. Made 
president of Italian republic, 
582. His conduct toward 
Switzerland, ib. Arrests 
British subjects in France, 
605. Projects a descent upon 
England, 600. Fresh designs 
against his life, ib. Declared 
emperor, 607. Cro^vued, 008. 
Assumes the title of King of 
Italy, 609. Again makes pa- 
cific overtures to Great Brit- 
ain, 612. Coalition of Rus- 
sia, Austria, and England 
against him, ib. His suc- 
cesses against the Austrians 
under General Mack, ib. 
■Gains the battle of Auster- 
litz, 013. Places his broth- 
ers upon tlie thrones of Na- 
ples .and Holland, 614. De- 
feats the Prussians at Jena, 
616. Defeated at Eylau, 617. 
Gains the battle of Fried- 
land, ib. His peace with 
Russia and Prussia, ib. His 
" Continental system," 016, 
618, 619. His campaign 
in Spain, 622. Campaign 
against Austria, 623, 620. 
His rupture with the See of 
Rome, 626. Divorces Jo- 
sephine, 627. Marries Ma- 
ria Louisa of Austria, ib. 
Seizes the Hanseatic towns, 
030. His Russian campaign, 
634, 637. Wins the battles 
ofLutzen and Bautzen, 638. 
Defeated by the Allies at 
Leipsic, 640. Leaves Paria 
to repsl the invasion of the 
Allies, 044. Abdicates, 047, 
048. Sails for Elba, 049. 
His escape from Elba, 053. 
Lands near Cannes, 654. 
Enters Paris, 055. His cam- 
paigu m Belgium, 056-058. 
Defeated iit Waterloo, 05S- 
000. Abdicates again, 001. 
Imprisoned at St. Helena, 
061, 6<;2. Death, 607. Hia 
remains removed to Paris, 
690. 
Napoleon II. proclaimed em- 
peror by his lather. 661. 



724 



NAPOLEON. 



INDEX. 



PALATINATE. 



Nafoleon III., Louis, son of 
ex-king of Holland, heads 
the conspiracy at Strasburg, 
63T. Taken prisoner, 688. 
His attempt at Boulogne, 
700, note. Elected a repre- 
sentative to the National 
Assembly, TOO. President, 
ib. Assists Pope Pius IX., 
TOl. His antagonism toward 
the Assembly, t02. His coup 
d'etat, 703. Elected emper- 
or, 704. Marries Eugenie 
Marie de Guzman, ib. 

Napoleon Eugene Louis, prince 
imperial, 705. 

Narbonne, minister of Louis 
XVL, 546. 

Nassau, Louis of, 344. 

National, edited by Thiers,] 
674. 

National Assembly, its first 
meeting, 530. Royal sitting 
held in, 531. Transfers its 
sittings to the capital, 538. 
Organizes the new constitu- 
tion, lb. Assumes the ex- 
ecutive power, 542. Disso- 
lution, 543. 

National Convention opens its 
sittings, 550, 557. Declares 
war against Great Britain, 
Holland, and Spain, 564. 
Names a committee to draw 
up laws as the basis of a new 
constitution, 578. Its stnig- 
gle with the tections, 57S, 
579. Dissolution, 579. 

National Guard disbanded by 
Charles X., 672. Re-estab- 
lished, 676. 

Navarino, battle of, 672. 

Navarre invaded by Francis 
I., 300. 

Nazareth captured by Prince 
Edward of England, 173. 

Nazareth, Count of, 123. 

Necker, minister of finance, 
514. His administration of 
the finances, 518. Resigns, 
519. Recalled, 523. Dis- 
missed from office, 531, 532. 
Recalled, 532. His admin- 
istration, 538, 539. Resigns, 
and retires for the last time 
into Switzerland, 540. 

Neerwinden, battle of, 564, 565. 

Nelson, 588, 591. 

Nemours, Treaty of, 353. 

Nemours, Dvike of, son of Louis 
Pliilippe, 692. 

Nemours, Jacques d'Armagn- 
ac, duke of, 269. 

Nes'<\ Raoul de, constable of 
France, 207. 

Netherlands, Louis XIV. dis- 
putes the claim of Charles 
II. of Spain to the, 429, 430. 
Invaded by Louis XIV., 430. 
Luxenibui'g's campaign in 
the, 446. Invaded by Louis 
XV., 491. 



Neustria, 42. Wars with Aus- 
trasia, 43, 44. Conclusion of 
first great struggle between 
Austrasia and, 46. War be- 
tween Austrasia and, 49, 50. 
Union under Pepin d'Heris- 
tal, 50. 

Neustrians elect a rival mayor,. 
51. Defeated by Charles 
Martel, ib. 

Neutrality, armed, 516. 

Ney, General, 604. Marshal, 
026, 630, 639 ,647, 654, 656, 
600. Death, 665. 

Nicsea (Nice), 4. Taken by 
Crusaders, 121. 

Nicephorus, Logothetes, Em- 
peror, treaty of peace be- 
tween Charlemagne and, 71. 

Nicholas le Flamand, 224. 

Nicholas I., Pope, Hincmar's 
contest with, 91. 

Nicole, 469. 

Nile, battle of the, 588. 

Nimeguen, Treaty of, 437. 

Nismes, Roman remains at, IS. 

Nivemols, Duke of, nephew of 
Cardinal Mazarin, 425. 

Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, 
470. Cardinal, 474. 

Noailles, Marshal de, 490. De- 
feated at Dettingen, ib. 
Serves in America, 516. 

Nogaret, William de, 185. 

Nogent, Jean de, minister, 229. 

Nomenoi.', chief of Brittany, SO. 

Nominalistf-, IJG. 

Nord, Roger du, 703. 

Xordlingen, battles of, 400, 411. 

Normandy, its prospanty un- 
der Rollo, S6. 

Normans, invasions of, SO. De- 
feated by Louis III. , 91. Be- 
siege Paris under Rollo, 92, 
93. Their conquest of Apu 
lia and Sicily, 114. Conquest 
of England, ib. 

Notables, Assembly of, insti- 
tution of, 280. Revived in 
1789, 520, 523. 

None, La, 344. 

Novara, battle of, 701. 

Novi, battle of, 590, 591. 

Noyon, Treaty of, 298. ■ 

Nymphenburg, Treaty of, 488. 

O. 

Octrois^ 525. 

Odillon-Barrot, OSS, 695. 

Odo. See Eudes. 

O'Donnell, General, OOS. 

Ogwina, Queen, 97. 

Oldenburg, Duke of, 030. 

Olivier, Chancellor, 331. 

Orange, Roman remains at, 18. 

Orange, Prince of, 057. 

Ordonnaiicss des Rois, histor- 
ical work, 14. 

Organimtion du Travail, 098. 

Oriflamme, 132. 

Orleanists, CS6. Theii' divis- 
ion, ib. 



Orleans, 40, 42. 

Orleans, Duchess of, wife of 
the son of Louis Philippe, 
091. Her conduct at the 
Revolution of 184S, 695. 

Orleans, Charles, duke of, 
taken prisoner at Agincourt, 
239. 

Orleans, Louis, duke of, op- 
poses the regency of Philip 
of Burgundy, 232, 233. As- 
sassinated, 284. 

Orleans, Louis, duke of, aftef- 
■ ward Louis XIL, 282, 283. 

Orleans, Gaston, duke of, 
brother of Louis XIII., 394, 
398, 399, 400, 404, 405, 412, 
416, 419. Made lieutenant 
general of the kingdom, 421. 
Ordered to retire to Blois, ib. 
Death, ib. 

Orleans, Philip, duke of, ap- 
pointed regent at deatli of 
Louis XIV., 474. His licen- 
tiousness, ib. His adminis- 
tration, 474^81. Resigns 
the regency, 481. His death, 
ib. 

Orleans, Pliilip Egalite, duke 
of, his jealousy of Louis 
XVI., 536. Sent to En- 
gland, 539. Votes for the 
king's death, 560. His ex- 
ecution, 509. 

Orleans, Louis Philippe, duke 
of, king of the French. See 
Louis Philippe. 

Orleans, Ferdinand, duke of, 
son of Louia Philippe, his 
death, 691. 

Oi'leans, Maid of. See Dare. 

Orleans, sieges of, 245, 247, 
830. 

Orme des conferences, 145. 

Ormesson, D', minister of 
finance, 519. 

Ormond, Lord, 460. 

Orthez, battle of, 648. 

Orvilliers, D', Count, 515. 

Ostphalians, 05. 

Otho, invasion of France by, 
98. 

Otho II. invades France, 99. 

Otho IV. , Emperor, 154. His 
war against Philip Augus- 
tus, 155. 

Oudenarde, battle of, 463. 

Oudinot, Marshal, 630, 637, 
647, 077, 701. 

Ouen, St., Bishop of Rouen, 47. 

Oxenstlern, Chancellor, 400. 



Pack, General, 659. 

Facte de Famine, 509. 

Palais de la Cile, afterward 
Palais de Justice, 406. 

Paix pcrpetiielle, treaty be- 
tween the French and Swiss, 
297. 

Palatinate invaded by Couis 
XIV., 444. 



PALESTINE. 



INDEX. 



PLANTAGENKT. 



25 



Palestine, Latin Icingdoni of, 
conquered by Saladin, 144. 

Palisse, La, commands the 
French army in Italy, 291. 
Made marshal, 295. Death, 
303. 

Papacy, alliance betiveen Car- 
lovingians and the, 60. Quar- 
rel between Louis VII. and 
the, 13T. Quarrel of Philip 
Augustus with, 147. Over- 
throw of its power by Philip 
the Fail-, ITS. Struggle with 
French (Jhurch, 232. Quar- 
rel with Louis XIV., 410. 
Napoleon's rupture with the, 
620. See Church. 

Pare aux Cerf^, 400. 

Paraclete, monastery of the, 
12S. 

Paris, 42. Dagobert fixes his 
court at, 4T. Sacked by Nor- 
mans, S6. Besieged by RoUo, 
92. Enfranchised by Louis 
VL,125. Blockaded by Hen- 
ry IV., 363,369. Capitulates 
to the Allies, 645. Again sur- 
renders to the Allies, 602. 
Fortified by Louis Philippe, 
6S9. 

Paris, Jansenist saint, 4S5. 

Paris, Louis Philippe, Comte 
de, son of the Duke of Or- 
leans, 692, 695. 

Paris, Parliament of, 178. See 
of, founded, 20. Treaty of, 
504. University of, 158. 

Parlemcnt^ 144. 

Parliament, antagonism be- 
tween crown and, 415. Its 
struggle with Louis XV., 
484. Its struggle with the 
Church and court in the 
reign of Louis XV. , 497, 498. 
507, 508. Its opposition to 
the court under Louis XVI., 
521. Exiled to Troyes, ib. 
Eecalled, 522. Its farther 
opposition, ib. Constitution 
of, 406^08. 

Parma seized by the French 
under the Consulate, 603. 
Battle of, 486. 

Parma, Duke of, 367, 369, 370. 

Partition, first Treaty of, 455. 
Second Treaty of, 456. 

Pascal, 469. 

Pascal, Paoli, General, 507. 

Pasquier, 665. 

Passaro, Cape, battle of, 476. 

Passau, Treaty of, 323. 

Pastoureaux, rising of the,170. 
Second insurrection of, 191. 

Pateriui, sect of, 144, 151. 

Paul, missionary in Gaul, 20. 

Paul, emperor of Russia, forms 
acoalitionng.ainsttheFrench 
Repuljlic, 5.10. 

Paul III., Pope, 310, 312. 

PauUV., Pope, 324. 

PauUtte, tax, 377, 406. 

Pauline, sister of Bonaparte, 



married to General Leclerc, 
604. 

Pavia, battle of, 303. 

Peace of God, 111. 

Pedro the Cruel, king of Cas- 
tile, 216, 217. 

Pedro II., king of Aragon, at- 
tacks Simon de Montfort at 
Muret, 153. 

Pedro of Aragon crowned king 
of Sicily, 176. 

Peers, court of, 159. 

Pelisson. minister of Louis 
XIV., 441. 

Pembroke, Earl of, invades 
France, 324. 

Peninsular war, 619, 623, 626, 
631, 633. 

Pepin d'lleristal, Duke, 49, 51 . 

Pepin, king of Italy, conquest 
of the Avars by, OS. 

Pepin Ic Bref, son of Charles 
Martel, 55. Causes himself 
to be proclaimed king of the 
Pranks, 50. Reign, 60, 63. 

Pepin of Landen, leader of 
Austrasian nobles against 
Brunehaut, 45. Chief min- 
ister, 40, 48. Death, ib. 

Pepin, son of Charlemagne, 74. 

Pepin, son of Charles Martel, 
his elevation to the throne 
sanctioned by the Pope, 60. 
Places himself at the head 
of national Church, ih. 

Pepin, sou of Louis I., 77. Con- 
spires against his father, 78, 
79, SO. Death, 81. 

Pequigny, Treaty of, 265. 

Perier, Casimir, 675, 6S6. 

Perpignan, siege of, 404. 

Perrault, 469. 

Persign}-, 6S7. 

Peter III., emperor of Russia, 
504. 

Peter the Great of Russia, 478. 

Peter the Hermit, 117, 118, 119. 

Peter the Venerable, abbot of 
Cluny, 128. 

Peterborough, Earl of, 461. 

Potion, mayor of Paris, .545, 
548, 550. 

Petit, Jean, monk, 235. 

Petrobussians, 129. 

Peyrounet, trial of, 683, 084. 

Philibert Emanuel, duke of 
Savoy, 320. 

Philip I., reign of, 113-12.3. 

Philip II., reign of, 143-159. 

PuiLip III. (le Hardi), reign 
of, 174-177. 

Philip IV. (le Bel), reign of, 
177-189. 

Philip V. (le Long), reign of, 
191-193. 

Pnif.ip VI., grandson of Philip 
III., reign of, 197-207. 

Philip II. of Spain, his treaty 
with France, 326. Assists the 
Catholics in France, 335. His 
league with tlie Guises, 352 
Advances pretensions to the 



throne ofFrance on behalf of 
his daughter, 367, 370. His 
negotiations with the Seize, 
369. His territories invaded 
by Henry IV., 3T2, 373. 
Conclusion of his war with 
France, 374. Joins with the 
Emperor Ferdinand against 
France, 397. 

Philip IV. of Spain enters into 
a treaty with France, 423. 
His submission to Louis 
XIV., 429. 

Philip V. of Spain flies from 
Madrid, 462. Signs the Quad- 
ruple Treaty, 4"77, 482. Be- 
sieges Gibraltar, 483. 

Philip, duke of Anjou, named 
by Charles II. of Spain as his 
successor, 456. Proclaimed 
at Jladrid as Philip V., 457. 

Philip of Inlanders joins third 
crusade, 144. 

Philip Egalite. See Orleans, 
Duke of. 

Philippeaux, Colonel, 589. 

Philipsburg, siege of, 486. 

Phoebus, Gaston, count of 
Foix, .213. 

PhoBnicians, their colonies, 3. 

Piacenza seized by the French 
under the Consulate, 603. 

Piacenza, battle of, 492. 

Pichegru, General, 576. In- 
vades Holland, ib. Made 
president of the CJouncil of 
Five Hundred, 585. Arrest- 
ed, 586. Banished to Cay- 
enne, ib. His escape, ib., 
606, 60S. 

Picton, Sir Thomas, 657, 659. 

Piedmont espouses the cause 
of Louis XVI., 545. Incor- 
porated with the French do- 
minions under the Consul- 
ate, 603. 

Piedmontese ^defeated at No- 
vara, 701. 

Pierre, son of Louis IX., 174. 

Pilnitz, meeting at, .545. 

Pinkie, battle of, 320. 

Pisa, council of, 289. 

Pitt, William, earl of Chatham, 
prosecutes the Seven Years' 
War, 501. Resigns office, 503. 

Pitt, William, son of the Earl 
of Chatham, retires from of- 
fice, 600. Premier a second 
time, 012. His death, 014. 

Pius VI., Pope, 582, 584. 

Pius VII., Pope, 008. Excom- 
municates Napoleon, 026. 
Forced by the French to 
quit Rome, 76. 

Pius IX., Pope, (luits Rome, 
701. Replaced on his throne 
by the French, ib. 

Plaid., or Treaty of Andelot, 44. 

Plaine, La, 557. 

Plantagenet, Geoffrey, 126. In- 
vested with the duchy of Nor- 
mandy by Louis VII., 137. 



726 PLECTRUDE. 



INDEX. 



EICHARD. 



Plecti'ude, wife of Pepin d'He- 
ristal, 51. 

Plessis-Praslin, Marshal du, 
418. 

Poiree, Oilbert de la, heresy 
of, 129. 

Poitiers, battle of, 209-211. 

Poitou, county of, submits to 
Philip Augustus, 149. 

Pol, St., Constable, 260, 265. 
Executed, 266. 

Pol, Count de St., 302, 303. 

Poland, disputed succession to 
throne of, 486, 487. Its par- 
tition in the reign of Louis 
XV., 509. Its hopes of de- 
liverance encouraged by Na- 
poleon, 617. 

Polignac, Prince, prime minis- 
ter of Charles X. , 673. Tri- 
al of, 683, 684. 

Politiques, party of the, 348, 
357. 

Pombal, Portuguese minister, 
505. 

Pompadour, Madame de, mis- 
tress of Louis XV., 496, 500. 
Aids in the suppression of the 
Jesuits, 505. Death, 506. 

Pondicherry, siege of, 493. 

Poniatowski, Marshal, 641. 

Ponsonby, Sir W., 659. 

Pontigny, abbey of, 142. 

Pontchartrain,Cliancellor,456. 

Port Royal, monastery of, 469. 

Port Royal des Champs, con- 

' vent of, 471. 

Portland, Lord, 455. 

Porto Bello captured by the 
English, 487. 

PortocaiTero, governor of Doul- 
lens, 374. 

Portocarrero, Cardinal - pri- 
mate, 456. 

Portugal invaded by Napo- 
leon, 619, 620. Insurrection 
against the French govern- 
ment, G21, 622. Napoleon 
prosecutes the war against. 
626. Revolution in, 668. 

Portuguese supported by Louis 
XIV. against Spain, 428. 

Pothinus, Hishop, 20. 

Poussin, 469. 

Pragmatic Sanction revoked 
by Louis XL, 259. Repre- 
sentatives of clergy demand 
re-establishment of, 272, 482, 
484, 404. 

Prague, battle of, 500. 

Praguerie, insurrection of the, 
254. 

Preshurg, Treaty of, 614. 

Press, liberty of the, 671, 674, 
677, 682. 

Pretender, the, recognized as 
King of England by Louis 
XIV., 4.57. 

Prevots, 158. 

Prideaux, General, 502. 

Prie, Marchioness of, 481, 483. 

Primaticcio, 317. 



Princes possession^, 645. 

Pritchard, arrest of, 691. 

Procida, John of, his conspiracy 
again st Charles of Anj ou, 176, 

Procureur-general^ 407. 

Provengal, 162. 

Ri'ovence, insurrection in, at 
the outljreak of the Revolu 
tion, 534. 

Provence, count of, afterward 
Louis XVIIL, 544. Assumes 
the title of regent upon the 
death of Louis XVI., 564. 
See Louis XVIII. 

Prussia invaded by Russia,500. 
Her alliance with England 
in the Seven Years' War, ib. 
Espouses the cause of Louis 
XVI., 546. Signs a treaty 
with the republic, 577. Rup- 
ture with France under the 
empire, 615. Concludes a 
treaty with Napoleon, 617. 
Declares war against Napo- 
leon after the Russian cam 
paign, 638. Combines with 
Russia against Napoleon, 
638, 639. 

Ptolemais (Tyre), Marquis of, 
122, 123. 

Puget, 469. 

Puisaye, Count de, 577. 

Pyramids, battle of the, 588. 

Pyrenees, mines of the, 3. 

Pyrenees, peace of the, 424. 
Q. 

Quadrivium, 73. 

Quadruple Treaty, 689. 

Quebec founded by Champlain, 
377. 

Quentin, St., siege of, 324. 

Quesnel, 470. 

Quietists, sect of, 471. 
R. 

Rabelais, 316. 

Rachenfried, mayor of the pal- 
ace, 51. 

Racine, 469. 

Radbert, Paschasius, 90. 

Eadetsky, Marshal, 701. 

Ragnachaire, 34. 

Ralph, Cistercian monk, ap- 
pointed to root out heresy in 
Languedoc, 151. 

Eamiliies, battle of, 461. 

Ramond, leader of the Feuil- 
lants, 543. 

Rapin, 442. 

Raspail, 684, 700. 

Ratisbon, Treaty of, 439. 

Raucoux, battle of, 493. 

Ravaillac, Franfois, assassin 
of Henry IV., 383. E.xe- 
cuted, ih. 

Ravenna, battle of, 290. 

Raymond, count of Toulouse, 
engages in first crusade, 121. 

Raymond de St. Gilles, count 
of Toulouse, 119. 

Raymond VI., count of Tou- 
louse, excommunicated and 



deprived of his dominions by 
the Pope, 152. Defeated by 
Simon de Montfort, 153. Re- 
gains Toulouse, 157. Death, 
ib. 

Raymond VII. succeeds his fa- 
ther, 157. Excommunicated, 
and his possessions granted 
in sovereignty to the King 
of France, 160. 

Raymond of Poitiers, 139. 

Raymond-Roger, vicomte de 
Beziei's, 152. 

Realists, 127. 

Reding, Aloys, Swiss patriot, 
604. 

Reformation, 308, 309, 314. Its 
progress in France during 
the reign of Henry II., 327. 

Regale, 470. 

Regent, St., 601. 

Regnier, General, 615. 

Regnor Lodbrog, Norman 
chieftain, 80. 

Reign of Terror, 558-575. 

Reims, Archbishop of, appoint- 
ed member of council of re- 
gency, 139. 

Relief, feudal impost, 133, 134. 

Renaissance, period of th e, 293. 

Renaudie, Godfrey de la, 330, 
331. 

Rene, duke of Lorraine, 266. 

Republic, First French, procla- 
mation of, 558. History of, 
564, seq. Second, proclaim- 
ed, 606. Overthrown, 704. 

Republicans, their insiu-rec- 
tions under Louis Philippe, 
084 

Retz, Cardinal de, 411, 416, 
418, 419, 421. 

Reveillere, La, 585, 591. 

Revenue, 52J^526. 

Revolution, state of society 
immediately pi-eceding the, 
508-511. Commencement of 
the, 524. 

Revolutionary Tribunal, 565, 
568. Increase of its author- 
ity. 572. 

Rewbell, 580, 585, 591. 

Reynolds, General, 423. 

Rheims, school of, 17. 

Rheinfeld, battle of, 401. 

Rhine, passage of the, 432. 

Ricci, general of the Jesuits, 
506. 

Richard Coeur de Lion joins 
third crusade, 144. Revolts 
against his father, 145. Does 
homage to King of France for 
his Continental possessions, 
ib. Ascends the English 
throne, ib. Distinguishes 
himself in the crusade, ib. 
Taken prisoner by Leopold 
of Austria, 146. Regains his 
liberty, ih. Defeats Philip, 
ib. Death, 147. 

Richard III., duke of Norman- 
dy, 112. 



KICHAED, 

Eichard of Burgundy, 95. 
Kichelieu, Armand Duplessis 
de, 3SS. Made secretary of 
state, 3S9. Ueprived of of 
fice, 390. Negotiates be- 
tween Louis XIII. and his 
mother, i&., 391. Made car 
dinal,392. Summoned to the 
councils of Louis XIII., ib. 
Tlie objects wliich he pur- 
sued, 394. Makes peace with 
the Rochellois, ib. First plot 
formed against him, ib. Be- 
sieges La Rochelle, 395, 396. 
His successes against Philip 
of Spain and the Duke of 
Savoy, 396, 397. Intrigues 
against him, 39T, 399. His 
intei-vention in the Thirty 
Years' War, 400. Revolt 
against him headed by the 
Count of Soissons, 403. Last 
conspiracy against him or- 
ganized by Cinq-Mars, ib., 
_40-i. Death, 405. 
Kichelieu, Duke of, minister 
of Louis XVIII., 663, 666. 
Resigns office, 669. 
Eichemont, Count de, consta 

ble, 245. 
Eipperda, 4S2. 
Ripuarii, 27. 

EiviSre, Bureau de la, minis- 
ter, 229. 
Eivoli, battle of, 5S4. 
Robert the Pious, son of Hugh 
Capet, associated in his 
father's government, 105. 
«eign of, 106-109. 
Eobert, count of Artois, son of 

Louis VIIL, 160. 
Eobert, count of Flanders, en- 
gages in first crusade, 120, 
Eobert Courthose, son of W*il- 
liam the Conqueror, rises in 
arms against his father, 115. 
Engages infirst crusade,121. 
Eobert, Duke, 94, 95, 96. Re- 
volts against Charles the 
Simple, 96. Crowned at 
Reims, ib. Slain, ib. 
Eobert, duke of Burgundy, 

brother of Henry I., 110. 
Eobert, duke of Normandy, 
surnamed the Devil, defeats 
Eudes, 110. Makes a pil- 
grimage to the Holy Land, 
112. Death, 113. 
Eobert of Artoi?, Comte de 
Beaumont-Roger, 199. Tries 
to regain his possessions by a 
fraud, '200. Intrigues against 
Philip VI. at the English 
court, 201. 
Eobert the Strong, count or 
duke, oppo.ses the Xormanc, 
86. Death, S7 



INDEX. 



Conspiracy against, 573. 
Guillotined, 574. 

Robespierre, the youngei', 573, 
574. 

Rochambeau, Count de, joins 
the army of Washington, 
516. 

Rochambeau,Greneral, 546,604. 

Rochefoucauld, La, 469. 

Rochefoucauld, Cardinal de, 
497. 

Rochejacquelein, La, 567. 

Rochelle, sieges of, 344, 395, 
396. Synod of the Refoi-m- 
ed Church held at, 340. 

Rockingham, Lord, ministry 
of, 518. 

Rocroi, battle of, 411. 

Rodney, Sir George, 515, 516, 

Rodolph of Burgundy crowned 
at Soissons, 96. Death, 97. 

Roederer, 551. 

Roger, Count, de Hauteville, 
115. 

Roger-Ducos, 591, 593. 

Rolian, Duke of, opposed to 
Richelieu, 394, 396. 

Roland made minister of the in 
terior, 516. Dismissed, 547. 
Recalled, 562, 553. Discovere 
evidence against the king, 
55S. Commits suicide, 569. 

Roland, Madame, her execu- 
tion, 569. 

Roland, Paladin, 68. 

RoUo, Norman chieftain, 92. 
Treaty between Charles the 
Simple and, 95. 

Romance language, 83. 

Romans, their settlements in 
Gaul, 5 

Rome sacked by the army of 
Charles of Bourbon, 306 
Galleries of, plundered by 
Bonaparte, 584. Papal gov 
ernment re-established at, 
591. City besieged by the 
French, 701. Occupied by 
French troops, ib. Republic 
proclaimed at, ib. 

Romorantin, Edict of, 331. 

Roncesvalles, overthrow of 
Franks at, 07. 

Ronsin, Hebertist, 670. 

Kooke, Admiral, 44S, 449, 458, 
461. 

Rosbach, battle of, 501. 

Roscelin, founder of the Nom- 
inalists, 127. 

Rosebecque, battle of, 226. 

Rosen, Count of, 445. 

Rossi, Count, 701. 

Rotruda, Princess, daughter 

of Charlemagne, 74. 
Rouen, siege of, in the reign 

of Charles IX., 335. 
Rouher, minister of justice,703 



Eobespjerre, 544, 546. Chosen Rousi-eau, Jean Jacque?, 510 



a. member of the Committee 
of Public Safety, 5U8. Op- 
poses the Hobertists, 570. 
Keigna euiTeme, 571, 572, 



Roussillon, united to the crown 

of France, 403. 
Royal chamber euppreased, 

493. 



SCALIGER. 727 

Royer-Collard, 665. 

Rue, de, 220. 

Ruremonde, battle of, 576. 

Russell, Admiral, 448. 

Russia declares war against 
France at the death of Louis 
XVL, 564. Attacks the 
French in Italy, 590. Com- 
bines with England against 
France under the Empire, 
612. Concludes a treaty with 
Napoleon, 617, 618. Com- 
bines with Prussia against 
Napoleon, 638, 639. 

Ruyter, De, 432, 433, 436. 

Rystadt, Treaty of, 478. 

Ryswick, first Treaty of, 450. 

S. 
Sabinus, Julius, raised to the 
purple, 19. Is executed at 
Rome, ib. 
Sacy, De, 469. 

Saib, Tippoo, assisted by the 
French against the English, 
51S. 
Saint-Ruth, General, 446. 
Saintes, battle of, 166. 
Saisset, Bernard de, bishop of 

Pamiers, 1S4. 
Saladin conquers Latin king- 
dom of Palestine, 144. 
Saladine, dime, 144. 
Salamanca, battle of, 633. 
Salic law, 191. 
Salii, 27. 
Salviati, 317. 
Salyes, defeat of the, 5. 
Santerre, 548, 560. Has the 
custody of Louis XVI. in the 
Temple, 553. 
Santrailles, 253. 
Saracens defeated by Charles 
Martel, 52-55. Defeated by 
Pepin, 62. Harass Charle- 
magne's southern frontier, 
68. 
Saragossa, siege of, 621, 622. 

Second siege of, 027. 
Sardinia conquered by Span^ 
iards, 476. Its war against 
Austria, 700. 
Sarto, Andrea del, 317. 
Satalia, 139. 
Saturninus, 20. 
Saurin, 442. 
Sausseinforms Louis XVI. that 

he is a prisoner, 542. 
Savoy, Charles Emmanuel, 
duke of, intrigues against 
Henry IV., 379. 
Savoy, Duke of, 459, 463. 
Savoy, Treaty of France with, 

450. 
Saxe, Marshal, commands the 
French army un.'ler Louis 
XV., 490, 492, 453. Be- 
sieges Maestricht, 494. 
Saxons, their struggles with 
Charlemagne, 65, 66. 
osbini, 72. 
Scaiigtr, 316. 



728 



SCAERON. 



INDEX. 



TALLEYKAND. 



Scarron, poet, 439. 

Schombei-g, Marshal, 39T, 399, 
43G. Joins the Prince of 
Orange, 442. Takes the 
command in Ireland, 445, 
Death, ih. 

Schonbrunn, 625. 

School of the Palace, 73. 

Schwartzenberg, an Austrian 
prince, 639, 643,645, 646, 654. 

Scotland, its alliance with 
France in the reign of Hen- 
ry II., 320. 

Scotus, John, sumamed Erige- 
na, 90. 

Scythians, irruption of, 3. 

Sebastian!, General, 626. 

Sections, Day of the, 579. 

Seguier, Chancellor, 406. 

Seize, .secret council, 354, 355, 
35S, 367. Their power de- 
stroyed, 369. 

Senate, Conservative, 5D5, 646, 
652. 

Seneflfe, battle of, 435. 

Senez, Bishop of, 484. 

Senones, their defeat of the 
Roman arms, 4. 

September massacres, 554, 555. 

Septimania conquered by the 
Moors, 53. Annexed to the 
French crown, 62. 

Sequani, their quarrels with 
the ^Edui, 6. 

Serfs, 132. 

Serisy, Abb3 de, 236. 

Servan, minister of war, 546. 
Dismissed, 547. Kecalled, 
553. 

Seven Years' War, close of, 
504. 

Sforza, Francesco, 306, 310. 

Sforza, Ludovico, 276-279. Is 
driven from Italy by the 
French, 2S4. Recovers Mi- 
lan, ib. Taken prisoner, 
285. Death, ib. 

Sforza, Maximilian, son of Lu- 
dovico 11 Moro, 291, 295, 297. 

Sherer, General, 590. 

Sicambri, 27. 

Siey^s, Abbe, his pamphlet, 
524. Member of the Nation- 
al Assembly, 530, 531, 535, 

■ 5S0. Leader of the New Di- 
rectory, 591. Combines with 
Bonaparte for the overthrow 
of the Directoiy, 5D2, 593. 
Member of the Senate, 596. 

Sigebert, king of the Eipuari- 
ans, 34. 

Sighebert, son of Clotaire, 42, 
43. Assassinated, 44. 

Sighebert II., son of Dagobert, 
48. 

Sigiamund, king of Burgundy, 
40. 

SilesiaoverrunbyFrederickll. 
of Prussia, 4^8. Confirmed 
to the King of Prussia, 494. 

Simon, Saint, equerry of Louis 
XIII., 398. 



Sintzheim, battle of, 434. 

Sixtus v.. Pope, 353, 367. 

Smith, Sir Sidney, 589. 

Smolensko attacked by Napo- 
leon, 634. 

Sobieski, king of Poland, 439. 

Socialists, 693, 698, 699, 702. 

Societies, secret, of the Repub- 
licans, 684, 685. 

Societies, secret political, 694. 

Society Islands, dispute be- 
tween England and France 
about the, 691. 

Soissons, 29, 40, 42. 

Solyman, Sultan, 308. His al 
liance with Francis I., 313. 

Sorbonne, the. 355, 359. 

Sorel, Agnes, 253, 255. 

Somerset, protector of En- 
gland, 320. 

Soubise, Prince of, 501. 

Soult, Marshal, 597, 623, 626, 
632, 633, 642, 648, 660, 684. 
Premier, 636. President of 
the council, 688. Premier, 
690. 

Spain, England declares war 
figainst, under the ministiy 
of Lord Egremont, 503. Es- 
pouses the cause of Louis 
XVI., 545. Signs a treaty 
with the Republic, 577. Na 
poleon's projects against, 619, 
620, 621. Wellington's cam 
paign in, 642. Rises against 
the government of Ferdi 
nand VII. , 663. Invaded by 
France under Louis XV'IIL, 
669. Its matrimonial alli- 
ances with France under 
Louis Philippe, 691. 

Spaniards, their defeat at Eo- 
croi, 411. 

Spanish Succession, war of the, 
453. 

Spurs, battle of the, 2S2. 

Stanhope, General, 465. 

Stanislas Leczynski asserts his 
claims to the throne of Po- 
land, 486, Driven from 
AVarsaw, ib. Invested vnth 
the duchies of Lorraine and 
Bar, 487. 

Staremberg, Count, 465. 

State, Council of. See Coun- 
cil of State. 

States-General convoked un- 
der its modern constitutional 
form, 178. Struggle for pow- 
er under John, 211. Meeting 
at Blois under Henry III., 
349. Want of power, 375. 
Public desire for the convo- 
cation of, 521. Summoned 
to meet, 523. New compo- 
sition of, ib. Meet at Ver- 
sailles, 529. Account of their 
constitution, 2T9, 280. 

States of the Church invaded 
by Bonaparte, 534. 

Steinkirk, battle of, 443, 449. 

Stenay, siege of, 422. 



Stephen III., Pope, 61. 

Stephen IV., Pope, 75. 

Stephen VIII., Pope, 98. 

Stephen, king of England, hia 
wars against the Empress 
Maude, 137. 

Stephens, Robert, 316. 

Stilicho, 24. 

Stofflet, 567, 578. Executed, 
578. 

Strahan, Sir Richard, 613. 

Strasburg acquired by France, 
433. Conspiracy headed by 
Louis Napoleon at, 687. 

Stremonius, 20. 

Stuart, Robert, Scottish officer, 
337, 338. 

Stuart, Sir John, 015. 

Styrum, Count, 459. 

Subinfeudation, 133. 

Suchet, 597. 

Sue, Eugene, 702. 

Sueur, Le, 469. 

Suevi, 24. 

Suifren, Bailli de, 517, 518. 

Suger, abbot of St. Denis, min- 
ister of Louis VI., 126. Coun- 
selor of Louis VIL, 137. Ap- 
pointed member of Council 
of Re.gency, 139. Devotes 
himself to the duties of his 
administration, 140. 

Sully, Maximilian de Bethune, 
baron of Rosny, aftenvard 
duke of, 374. Made surin- 
tendant des finances, 376. 
Takes measures for placing 
the regency in the hands of 
Mai-y de Medicis, 385. Be- 
tu-es from office, 336. Death, 
ih. 

Surintendant des Finances, 
526. 

Susanna, wife of Charles, duke 
of Bourbon, 301. 

Suwarrow, General, 590. 

Sweden, hostilities between 
France and, 633. 

Swiss serve under Prosper Co- 
lonna against Francis I., 295, 
296. Their treaties with 
Francis, 297. Charles the 
Bold of Burgundy makes war 
upon the, 266. 

Swiss Guards, their defense of 
the Tuileries, 551. 

Switzerland subject in reality 
to France under the Consul- 
ate, 604. 

Syagrius, Count, 29. Defeated 
by Clovis, 30. 

Syria, campaign against Me- 
hemet Ali in, 689. 

T. 

Tagliacozzo, battle of, 171. 
Taille, tax, 524, 525. 
Talandier, Colonel, 683. 
Talavera, battle of, 626. 
Tallard, Count, 455, 460. 
Talleyrand, 596, 646, 653. De- 
clared president of the coun- 



INDEX. 



VALTELINE. 



729 



cil of ministers, 6G2. Re- 
signs, C03. 

TaUien, 545, 573, 5T4, 581. 

Tancred, prince of Galilee, 121. 

Tarascon, Treaty of, ITS. 

Target, lawyer, selected to de- 
fend Louis XVI., 559. 

Tassilo, Duke, of Bavaria, CS. 

Ta.x;es, 524-526. 

Tchichagofif, Russian general, 
63T. 

Tellier, Le, 424, 428, 441. 

Tellier, Le, confessor of Louis 
XIV., 468, 4T0, 4T1. 

Templars, foundation of the 
order of, 129. Suppression 
of order of, 1ST, 188, 189. 

Temple, Sir William, 430. 

Tencin, Cardinal, 489. 

Terra}', minister of Louis XV., 
SOT, 509. 

Terrorists, division among,569. 

Tertre, iJu, 220. 

Tess(), Marshal, 463. 

Testry, battle of, 50. 

Theodebald, son of Theode- 
bert, 41. 

Theodebald, grandson of Pepin 
d'lleristal, 51. 

Theodebert, son of Childebert 
IL, 45. 

Theodebert, son of Thierry, 41. 

Theodoric the Visigoth, 28. 

Theodorio (Thierrv), son of 
Clovis, 40. Death, 41. 

Thermidor, ninth, revolution 
of, 5T4. 

Thermidorians, 575, 

Thibald, count of Champagne, 
13T. 

Thielman, General, 6C0. 

Thiers, 6T4, 6T7. Minister of 
the interior, GS6. Premier, 
687. Leader of the centre 
gauche, OSS. Premier, 68^. 
I)ismissed,C90. Named min- 
ister in 1S48, GC5. Ai'rested 
in 1851, 70;;. 

Thierry. Sec Theodoric. 

Thierry, son of CMldebert II., 
45. 

Thien-y III. incarcerated at St. 
Denis, 49. Name of king con- 
firmed to him by Pepin, 50. 

Thierry IV., death of, 51. 

Tliionville, siege of, 553. 

Thirty Years' War, 400. End 
of, 414. 

Thou, Jacques Auguste de, his 
histoiy, 302. 

Thou, Francois de, son of the 
historian, 403, 404. 

Thudan, Avar chieftain, 70. 
Baptized, ih. 

Thuneau, General, 5"S. 

Thurot, French commander in 
Ireland, 503. 

Tiberias, battle of, 141. 

Tiberias, principality of, cre- 
ated in favor of Tancred,122. 

Tiers Elat, development of, 
124, 2T9. Definition of, by 



the Abbe Sieyes, 524. Their 
preponderance in the States- 
General in 17S9, 529. 

Tilsit, Peace of, 61T, 018. 

Tithes, ecclesiastical, abolish- 
ed, 535. 

Tolentino, Treaty of, 584. 

Tollemache, General, 449. 

Tonnerre, Clermont de la, 
member of the National As- 
sembly, 530. 

Torcy, nephew of Colbert, 456, 
453, 465. 

Toulon, its resistance to the 
Convention, 56T. 

Toulouse, capital of the Visi- 
goths, 26. Battle of, 648. 

Toulouse, Count of, son of 
Madame de Montespan, 468. 

Toulouse, school of, IT. 

Toussaint I'Ouverture, negro 
adventurer, 604. 

Tournelle^ 40T. 

Tours, capital of Henry IV. 
for a time, 36T. 

Tours, school of, T3. 

Tourville, Count of, 445. At- 
tacks the English fleet, 448, 
449. 

Tourzel, Mme. de, governess to 
the children of Louis XVI., 
541. 

To.^;andria, 27. 

Trafalgar, battle of, 613. 

Trastamara,Henry of, 216, 217. 

Treilhard, Director, 591. 

Tremouille, La, favorite of 
Charles VII., 245, k51, 252, 
254. 

Tremouille, La, general of 
Louis XII. and Fi-ancis I., 
291, 295. Death, 303. 

Tremouille, La, duke of Then- 
ars, 365. 

Tiesorier de I'epargne^ 520. 

Tresoriers de France, 526. 

Treves razed to the ground by 
the Germans, 24. 

Tribunate,5'. 5. Abolished,618. 

Tributary lands, 131, 132. 

Trilingual College. See College. 

Triple Alliance, 430. 

Tripoli, county of, conferred 
upon Raymond of Toulouse, 
122. 

Tristan, Jean, duke of Nevers, 
son of Louis IX., 172. 

Tristan I'Hermite, gossip of 
Louis XI., 271. 

Trivium, 73. 

Trivulzio, leader of the French 
army in the war against It- 
aly under Louis XII., 2S4. 
His victory over the papal 
forces, 289, 291, 295. 

Trogus Pompeius, 18. 

Trois-uvtchos, its annexation i 
to France recognized by 
Austria, 414. 

Tromp, Admiral Van, 412. 

Tronchet, lawyer, selected to 
defend Louis XVI., 559. 



Trophimus, 20. 

Troppau, meeting at, 069. 

Troubadours, 162. 

Ti'ouveurs, or Trouveres, 162. 

Troyes, Jean de, surgeon, 237. 

Troyes, treaty of, between 
Charles VI. and Henry V. 
of England, 243. 

Truce of God, 111. 

Tiiileries, the march upon the, 
550, 551. 

Tunis, King of, defeated by 
Charles of Anjou, 173. 

Turenne,Vicomte de, 401, 403, 
411, 412, 413. Joins the 
Fronde, 417. Withdraws 
into Holland, ib., 418. De- 
feated by Marshal du Plessis- 
Praslin, 418, 419. Resumes 
his loyalty to the crown, 420, 
422, 423, 430, 433. His cam- 
paign in Alsace, 434. Kill- 
ed, 435. 

Turgot, minister of Louis XVI. , 
513. His administration of 
the finances, ib. Dismissed 
from office, ib. 

Turin, sieges of, 402, 462. Rev- 
olutionary movement in, 668. 
Occupied by Austrians, 669. 

Turks, their defeat of the Cru- 
saders, 139. Invade Austria, 
439. Declare war against 
France, 589. Defeated at 
Aboukir, ib. Hostilities be- 
tween Greeks and, 672. 

Tyre, Archbishop of, 144. 

Tyrol, its opposition to Napo- 
leon, 624. 

U. 

Uga, 48. 

Unam Sanctam, papalbull,lS5. 

Unigenitus, papal bull, 470, 
481, 484, 498. 

Union, council of the, 367. 

United States, treaty of Fi'anco 
with, 514. 

University, National, estab- 
lished at Paris by Napoleon, 
618. 

Urban II. , Pope, Philip I. 
anathematized by, IIT. His 
charge to Peter the Hermit 
to proclaim the holy war, 
lis. His discourse at the 
council of Clermont, 119. 

Utrecht, peace of, 46T. . 

Uxbridge, Lord, 059. 

V. 

Vadier imprisoned, 575. 
Valaze, Girondist, 569. 
Valenciennes, siege of, 422. 
Valentine, duchess of Orleans, 

231. 
Valerius Cato, 18. 
Valliere, Louise de la, mistress 

of Louis XIV.. 439. 
Valmy, battle of, 550. 
Valteiine, French army sent 

into the, 393. 



'30 



VANDALS. 



INDEX. 



ZOUNUOUF. 



Vandals, 24. 

Varennes, Billaud, 555. 

Varennes, flight to, 5i2. 

Vassy, massacre of, 334, 835. 

Vauban, 430, 438, 444. 

Vaublanc, leader of the Feuil- 
lants, 543. 

Vaubois, General, 5SS. 

Vaudois, sect of, 151. Perse- 
cution of the, 315. 

Vaudreuil, Marquess of, 502. 

Vaudrey, Colonel, CST. 

Vauguyon, Duke of, 512. 

Velasco, constable of Castile, 
3T3. 

Venaissin, county of, ceded to 
the Pope by Philip III., 
1T4. 

Venalile des offices, 524. 

Vendue, La, InsuiTection of, 
560. Insurgents of, reassem- 
ble in arms, 577. The war 
extinguished, 578. Legiti- 
mists attempt to excite a 
civil war in, 084. 

Vendome, Duke of, 458, 461, 
463, 4G5. 

Venice taken by Bonaparte, 
585. Ceded to Austria, 586. 

Vercingetorix heads insurrec- 
tion against Ceesar, 9. Ex- 
ecuted, 10. 

Verdun captured by the allies 
during the Kevolution, 554. 
Restored, 556. 

Verdun, Treaty of, 83. 

Vergasillaunus, 10. 

Vergennes, Count de, minister 
of Louis XVL, 513. Minis- 
ter of foreign affairs, 518. 
Prime minister, 519. 

Vergniaud, leader of the Gi- 
rondins, 544, 549, 560. Vote; 
for the king's death, 500. 

Vermandois, Herbert, count 
of, 96, 97. 

Vermandois, Count of, ap 
pointed member of Council 
of Regency, 139. 

Vernon, Admiral, 487. 

Verona, congress of, 009. 

Versailles, the mob of Pari: 
marches upon, 536. 

Versailles, Treaties of, 500, 
518. 

Vervins, Treaty of, 374. 

Vespers, Sicilian, 176. 

Veto,, royal, debate upon, 536. 

Vezelai, council of, 138. 

Vicarii, 72. 

Viotoire, abbey de la, 155, 

Victor, Marshal, 626, 637. 

Victor Amadeus driven from 
Turin, 068. 

Victor Emmanuel, the present 
king of Italy, 701. 

Vienna, entry of Napoleon into, 
612. Napoleon's second ea 
try into, 624. 



Vienna, congress at, in the 
reign of Louis XVIIL, 653. 

Vienna, Treaties of, 487, 654. 

Vienne, Archbishop of, 530. 

Vienne, council of, abolishes 
the Order of Templars, 188. 

Vienne, school of, 17. Roman 
remains at, 18. 

Villars, governor of Rouen, 370. 

Villars, Marshal, general of 
Louis XIV., 458. His cam- 
paign in Germany, 459, 463. 
Named to the command in 
Flanders, 464. Sent against 
the Camisards, 460, 460. 
His campaign in the Palati- 
nate, 467. Death, 486. 

Villefranche, 125. 

Villehardouin, Geoffrey de, 
159. His history of the con- 
quest of Constantinople, 193. 

Villcle, De, made premier, 669, 
670. Resigns, 072. 

Villemain, 665. 

Villemongis, S31. 

Villenage, 132. 

Villeneuve, 125. 

Villeneuve, Admiral, taken 
prisoner by the English, 613. 

Villeroi, Marshal, succeeds 
Luxemburg, 449, 450, 457, 
400, 401, 462, 474. 

Villes Neuves, 143. 

Vimiera, battle of, 622. 

Vincent, Hcbertist, 570. 

Vincent, St., Robert de, organ, 
izes an opposition to the 
crown, 521. 

Vinci, Leonardo da, 316. 

Visigoths take possession of 
part of Gaul, 26. 

Vitry taken and set on fire, 137 

Vitr}-, De, captain of the royal 
guard, 389. 

Vittoria, battle of, 642. 

Voltaire, 497, 510. 

Vote, double, law of the, 667. 

W. 

Wagram, battle of, 625. 

Waiter, Duke, 02. 

Wala, Count, 75. 

Waldeck, Prince of, 444, 446. 

Walmoden, General, 576. 

Walpole, Sir Robert, 487. 

Walter Sans-avoir, 121. 

Wardelin, mayor of the pal 
ace, 44. 

Wardship, 134. 

Warsaw, grand-duchy of, as- 
signed to the Elector of Sax- 
ony, 618. 

Washington opposes the 
French in America, 499. 

Waterloo, battle of, 657, 600. 

Wellington, Duke of, his cam 
paigns in Spain, 622, 627, 
631, 032, 033, 642, 648, 654 
Campaign in Belgium, 656- 



653. Gains the battle of 

Waterloo, 658-060. 

Werth, John de, 412. 

Westermann, 550. 

Westphalia, Treaties of, 413, 
414. 

Westphalians, 65. 

Whitworth, Lord, 605. 

William, Bras de Fer, count 
of Apulia, 114, 115. 

William, Count, au Court-nez, 
08. 

William X. , duke of Aquitaine, 
126. 

William, prince of Orange, 
commands an army against 
Louis XIV., 432. 'Stadt- 
holder, 433. His alliance 
with the Emperor Leopold 
and the Elector of Branden- 
burg against Louis XIV., ib. 
Opposed to Conde, 435. De- 
feated at Cassel, 436. Mar- 
ries Mary, daughter of the 
Duke of York, 437. Signs 
the Treaty of Nimeguen, ib. 
Organizes a confederacy 
against Louis XIV., 443. 
King of England, ib. Gains 
the battle of the Boy.ae, 445. 
Defeated by Luxemburg, 
448. Signs Treaty of Rys- 
wick, 450. Signs the first 
Treaty of Partition, 455. 
Death, 457. 

William IV. of Orange, 493. 

William the Conqueror, son of 
Robert, duke of Normandy, 
112,113. Conquers England, 
114. Invades the Vexin,115. 
Death, 110. 

Willibrord, St., 50. Conse- 
crated archbishop of the 
Frisians by Pope Sergius, 51. 

Wlnifrid or St. Boniface, arch- 
bishop of Mayence, 55. 

Winzingerode, Russian gener- 
al, 043, 044. 

Witgenstein, Russian general, 
637, 638. 

Witikind, Saxon chief, 65, 66. 

Witt, John de, 432, 433. 

Wolfe, General, 502. 

Wolsey,Cardinal, 299, 300, 301. 

Worms, Treaty of, 82. 

Wrede, General, 641. 

Wurmser, General, 582. 
Y. 

York, Duke of, retreats before 
the Republican army, 576, 
591. 

Ypres reduced by Conde, 413. 

Z. 

Zacharias, Pope, 56. 

Z.ira besieged by Crusaders, 

159. 
Zedekias, physician, 88. 
Zorndorf, battle of, 501. 



THE END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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